Keys. Shoved through the letterbox
before I got up-
in an envelope with a note:
Could I (please) feed the cat…
Gone away? Good for her!
Car on the drive. Took a taxi. I think.
To the airport? Didn’t say.
******* with rain-
still, had best leave my shoes on the step just the same.
Obsessed with cleanliness and hygiene-
that’s why he left.
Who, in their right mind, puts cream-coloured carpet in a…?
Door. Not locked. Nearly fell through it.
Strange. She forgot?
Kitchen. Freezer’s empty, switched off.
No cereal. No tins.
Utility room. Spotlessly clean-
twelve! two-kilogram bags of Go-Cat Complete.
Planning to be gone quite a while. I think.
Playroom. Packed up. Kids staying with Nan.
She wants to redecorate before they come home?
Great. A fresh start. I think.
Bedroom. Suitcase on the wardrobe.
Bought a new one? Smaller. Lighter perhaps.
Makes sense. After all- she is travelling alone. I think.
Bathroom. Pristine. Almost empty.
Almost. Macleans and a toothbrush,
in a glass on the sill.
I didn’t think about that.
Until now.

Oh Muse I call thee! Sing me the song of the human soul!
May thy words sound as thunder so that all man may hear your message!
I call thee! Oh manifestation of inspiration move me brightly!  
Oh adoration of faith, reward of virtue’s gentle embrace.
Oh sweet Nuit your gentle kiss shall fill my heart with a trembling breath.
Your figure is slender as a ghost of kindness long since passed,
your eyes in silence echo the muse’s disregarded tune at last.
Oh revelation of the face, take up your sandy wings.
Rise up over the Earth just as you emerge from Nun,
that primordial darkness of insecurity that rough sea of regret.
Behold the last great voice has spoken! The third pillar lost, the tabernacle is broken.
Divine Truth, nothing-earthly gives or can destroy, the soul’s calm sunshine of spiritual joy.
Oh stone rejected by the builders, ascend to become the keystone of the living Arch.
May your rays forever illuminate the Earth!
Long live the Brothers who exhort this beauty… for they are the Sons of the East.