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    in Poetry

    “EMPTY NEST” by Carol Ann Duffy

    “Dear child, the house pines when you leave.
    I research whether there is any bird who grieves
    over its empty nest.

    Your vacant room
    is a still-life framed by the unclosed door;
    read by sunlight, an open book on the floor.

    I fold the laundry; hang your flower dress
    in darkness. Forget-me-nots.

    *

    Beyond the tall fence, I hear horse-chestnuts
    counting themselves.
    Then autumn; Christmas.
    You come and go, singing. Then ice; snowdrops.

    Our home hides its face in hands of silence.

    I knew mothering, but not this other thing
    which hefts my heart each day. Heavier.
    Now I know.

    *

    This is the shy sorrow. It will not speak up.

    I play one chord on the piano;
    it vanishes, tactful,
    as dusk muffles the garden; a magpie staring from its branch.
    The marble girl standing by the bench.

    From the local church, bells like a spelling.
    And the evening star like a text.
    And then what next…”

     

    Publisher: Picador, 2018

    "From my books" I will tell you what impressed me and what I have learned.

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