the child goes out

Alan Finlay

my child goes out and the rain comes in.
and we walk and we find nothing

she will give of nothing. she will hold her purse.
she will hold the blue wall against her skin.
yet the child goes out and finds nothing. broken glass.
he finds the broken glass and he burns it to his skin.
He says: "this is how my mother is." She is teaching

the alphabet. B is for
Broken. He knows this. He hates to know this.
He is waiting with half an ear on the door.
He is waiting for his father to return
with blood on his hands, to devour them both.

My child and I go out into the garden. There is wind,
sweeping the leaves. There are changes. The child
says to the father: it is you i want to be with
daddy, will you swing me?

The father holds a wall against his throat.

My son and i walk out into the garden and it is getting dark.
swing me, he says. but it is getting late. as the light
leaves, his cries …

The father has already gone into the dark to find the child ...

The son and the father go out into the dark, to be alone, in the dark
      together

LitNet: 25 April 2006

Click here to read more poetry by Alan Finlay

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