HOME IS HOME IS HOME IS:

A clock ticks on the wall,
Thock,
Thock,
Thock,
The second hand,
A healing sound,

Birdsong in the garden after dark,
The sound of a single car miles off,

A refrigerator humming high to it’s self in the kitchen,
The soles of shoes whispering on carpet,
A door opens,
Closes,
Opens,
Closes,

In another room a gas fire expels a comforting hiss,
Soothing,,
Sings to the TV remote,
Curtains parted,
No one outside to look since the 70’s,
When the street was full of kids
And bikes,
And balls,
And skipping,
And chalking on walls,

Across the valley a single street light,
Carving a Yellow hole in Black to push it’s head through,
Starless under India Ink,

Tonight,
Every night,
For as long as I can remember,
There’s a silence behind the silence,
Reaching to the stars,
In space no one can hear you,

The dim Amber lights of curtained windows,
Rectangles punched through Black,
No breeze in the garden,

Another car slips past,
Closer,
Breathes a single breath,
Is gone,
Following empty roads,
Black top snakes,
Sleeping one eye open under Yellow lights,

(K)