Anniversary

Anniversary

Do you remember those summers long ago
That forested valley where we lived
Remote, cocooned in silence?
After sundown the bush smelt dry and honeyed
And moths crowded the lamplight.
I cut a hole in the hut wall
With a chainsaw
Slapped in a pane of cracked glass
To watch the close-by ridgelines in the night.
Stars blazed, owls sang their comfortless cry
And the creek purred at the edge of our sleep.
Yes, you liked it there
And if I had offered you something different
You would not have been enchanted.
That long ago life seems
So far behind us now
But I remember the moths
Blue-sheened and dazzled
In the lamp’s bright aureole
And watching them fall
One by one
I knew you wouldn’t be here long.

– Jogyata.

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