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Spring 2008 Poetry Competition First Prize

A Friend Dying

by Clare Girvan

clare@raygirvan.co.uk

In youth, would he have wished to die

Gloriously, at speed,

Tragically tangled in metal,

His name in the papers?

Or with greater wisdom,

Beloved husband, peacefully closing down

A life well done, with rightful ceremony?

Not like this;

Sear as a tobacco leaf,

Shrunk sapless onto his big bones,

Tucked childlike into medical sheets

Amid a foolish exuberance

Of roses, iris, pinks and fiery marigolds;

Caught helpless between worlds

Like a fine tree, falling, falling.

Out in the street

The sweet young girls he loved

Swing by, brave-breasted in brief summer tops,

And for form's sake only

And in loving memory

He touches the arm of the pretty nurse

Who brings the tea.

 ©2008 Clare Girvan

Clare would love to hear what you think of her poem - email her now

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