Thanks for the memory

Every unsuspecting fibre
          wracked with the pain
of silence and neglect
          a litter of leaves
on the path to the Tower
          tossing and turning
in the grime and dust
          Life is long

: so too
          the days and hours
of absence filled with
          hope’s sullen reprobates
and at night the grinding
          of foxes’ teeth
and the darkness that settles
          around the heart

John Lyons