It's Still Life

From The Intersection of Odd Numbers

Both Questions and Answers

The dust
of long absence

stirs

windows unsealed
         
the old air
escapes
so the new
laden with garlic
        and rain-damp streets

might enter.

Let
familiar tunes
be hummed
even if
the words
        are
forgotten.

Let
the crow
protest

and the floorboards
gleam
under
the slow
promise
of a mop.

For a person
stands

at the door

apron
stained

with the colours
of a life
lived
in Brigid’s
absence,

a smile

that is both
question
         and
answer.

This is
The Intersection

of Odd
        Numbers.

A new
story

awaits.