Swarthy Anxiety

Purple and white ribbons covering statues, branches

banisters,

balloons blowing, falling over my head,

I duck, curl up tighter

do not allow them to touch me

one hand on my neck, just hoping

In the summer we laughed

as the darkness convened

spreading itself even in your dismissal

now you have noticed its malignance

yet still you call it ‘nothing’

while I see it in my mind

and with no one to give me their hope

consign myself to mug after mug of

mint tea,

rose-coloured platitudes giving me but moments of warmth

(March 28th, 2007)