Your brother and you
sat in the common room
of the abbey: you a monk
and he a teacher, your
conversation carried on
in soft voices. I sat on a
chair by the radiator and
window peering out at the
cloister in the summer
evening below. You laughed
softly at a comment on
some past event; he smiling
at the memory of you two
as boys. The cloister garth
was empty; both moon and
retiring sun occupied the sky.
A black robed monk went
past my view below, then
out of sight, where I did
not know. Soon be supper,
you said, see you before
the office of Compline. You
left and the door closed.
Your brother retired to his
room along the passage.
I watched as the sky grew
dim; the shadows appeared
in the cloisters where light
could not reach. Across
the way a monk walk past
his window unaware I secretly
watched his walk. Soon be
supper in the refectory,
I mused, leaving my window
seat, leaving the radiator
and its welcoming heat.
Mar 2, 2018
Mar 2, 2018 at 7:59 AM UTC
Your brother and you
sat in the common room
of the abbey: you a monk
and he a teacher, your
conversation carried on
in soft voices. I sat on a
chair by the radiator and
window peering out at the
cloister in the summer
evening below. You laughed
softly at a comment on
some past event; he smiling
at the memory of you two
as boys. The cloister garth
was empty; both moon and
retiring sun occupied the sky.
A black robed monk went
past my view below, then
out of sight, where I did
not know. Soon be supper,
you said, see you before
the office of Compline. You
left and the door closed.
Your brother retired to his
room along the passage.
I watched as the sky grew
dim; the shadows appeared
in the cloisters where light
could not reach. Across
the way a monk walk past
his window unaware I secretly
watched his walk. Soon be
supper in the refectory,
I mused, leaving my window
seat, leaving the radiator
and its welcoming heat.
