St. Michael's Churchyard (Autumn)
Even on the calmest evening,
when the trees stand mute
and the leaves of ivy-covered
graves are motionless,
nothing is still.
White winter pansies shake
their neurasthenic heads on
slender stalks and I remember
your hospital gown; the thinness
of your limbs; your breath's last rush.
Sounds carry, even in
this airless space – voices
of lives that are not our own
insist on being heard.
Rooks congregate;
a radio blares. Each evening
there's another final harvest.
Louise Longson is a previously unpublished poet from West Oxfordshire, currently working for a local charity which serves those distressed by loneliness and social isolation. A qualified psychotherapist, she has finally cleared enough of her own head-space and house-space to pursue her writing in earnest. You can find her here: https://twitter.com/LouisePoetical.