Louise Longson: a poem

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Louise Longson is a previously unpublished poet from West Oxfordshire, currently working for a local charity which serves those distressed by loneliness and social isolation.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.