Your smiling face is reflected
by the steel face
as the pressure of the mind
is released

and your dismissal, gone
the rose tear on pale expanse
marking
your expression

this is the way the pain ends
the wimper followed by a bang
later, as the mirror
smashes

after all
the greatest fear is
our own reflection

and the ever changing you remains
oblivious
notices only sometimes a subdued mood
not the lengthening track of events

Amended 18 Mar 2004

There was the time I tried to walk home
got to the gates desperate to the caught
and sent back
stood there for a lifetime
until it passed and a teacher came
to reincarnate me back into the classroom

The darkroom was good
You could be alone, the red light
made it safe so
no-one could join the
smell of the chemicals
broken stool
and the clock that counted down to the end of break time

Of course they knew
They could read my mind
sat there, plotting against me in the staff room
that was why they’d cancel games for a
cross country run
and why one day there was that maggot in my lunch

I used to think that they didn’t like it if you
didn’t run
but now I know
that’s how they caught you
easy prey
a distraction from their unqualified mediocrity
and the years until retirement

Amended 22 May 2014

Current: Looking out of the window
Recent: Drinking coffee
Previous: Stretching
Early: Having a sleep

this is my grave
the place where I rot
a corpse with no decay
and a pension plan

I
remembered you
when I

walked
slowly away

and you lay
quiet and eyes shut
on the bed

as though in thought

in my thoughts

and now gone