Chapters (15)

waiting for me to come to him

lost I’ve lost all of him pale hair and a first tooth and lost all of me

I thought I saw him walking down the passage and out the front door

I thought I saw him standing on the roof of the sleepout

I thought I saw him hiding under the table in the kitchen

I saw him walking with my mother near her grave

I saw him with a bottle of stout in the Railway Hotel

I saw him in the madhouse weeping

I saw him carrying Lenny crying in his arms

I saw him asleep in the bed beside me

a grown man wearing boots and overalls

with a shovel in his hand

he was my gravedigger lying there beside me

his eyes wide open

they were eyes of polished stone

lost lost lost he’s lost what is he now

dead skin dead bones

never happy never sad never old

a voice I won’t hear

a face I won’t touch

an empty bowl and empty spoon

a withered leaf I can crumple in my hand

or press here on my breast and feel it break

I know what I’ve done I said

don’t tell me what I’ve done

I said I’ll grow old and go barefoot

all mothers grow old and walk on stones

I’ll have no face and no name anyone remembers

he would have remembered me

he would have been the last to remember

maybe in a dark room somewhere

a grown man lying awake thinking of me before he fell asleep

he would have felt my hand on his face again

have you been lying awake in the dark I’d say

have you been waiting for me to come to you

I’m here I’d say

I’m here

Frost

Trembling hands

Stars

THE END

Copyright Details

CURRENCY PLAYS

First published in 2015

by Currency Press Pty Ltd,

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First digital edition published in 2015 by Currency Press.

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