“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
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