A Walk
Joseph Gorman
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest 2009 (view all the winners)
Most Highly Commended
gravel crunches
under our shoes
we walk holding hands
not speaking
along a road that turns
out of sight ahead of us
through a stand of tulip trees
waving golden in the cold air
dark clouds coalesce above us
the waning sunshine bright
under the black billows
running tangential to the earth
throwing our shadows long
up past the bend
she doesn't want to talk
she just wants to walk
to walk away from a long year
to hear of it no more
to leave it where it is
part of a past
she doesn't have to look at
if she doesn't want
at first I can only watch her
with the corner of my eye
though after a while
I am brave enough
to turn full face
and see her profile complete
she does not notice
her soft yellow hair
moving gently in the chill breeze
collar high against it
and the soft blush of her cheeks
sensuous lips held without emotion
sparkling blue eyes straight and blind
"I miss them"
"me too"
"they were so little
...so new"
"why both?"
"because He doesn't care...
I guess?"
"care?!
I would feel much better
If it were just that"
"what?"
"it's not about caring...
It's about being
...we are so...so alone here...
I know it
and you know it...too
so...please!
we need to stop
kidding ourselves
I've come to a place now
where it's harder
if I kid myself"
voices trail off empty
into the rising shadows
her eyes harden
squinting against tears
that do not come
her lips purse and grow pale
her whole face turning ghostly
her hand wilts in mine
slipping gently away
she puts it in her coat pocket
stops walking with a sudden
crunch of gravel
turns without acknowledgment
and walks back into a dying sun
smothering itself
with an unforgiving horizon
I stand frozen
watching her lonely silhouette recede
as the first snowflake of an old year
strikes my face
melts slowly
running down my cheek
