The Eyes Go
R.H. Alexander
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2024 (view all the winners)
Honorable Mention, Tom Howard, Poetry
"To see takes time. Like a friend takes time."
Georgia O'Keefe
To see takes time. When I lost you did my eyes go? Are they still in
that closet in the dark where everything was clear so long as we were
together? There is the fear that won't leave. Not so much of the
losing sight of things. I see well enough to drive, shop, to pay for the
daily grist. But it comes when the sound of your voice becomes hard
to remember, the one that could close my eyes to surrender just by
filling my ears. It takes so much to hear you in this old dark,
whispered and soothing, a ready whistle when night won't give up.
Maybe you are still in here, the glint of your eye caught by the line of
pale light under the door. Here you are, wearing your grin, the finger
to your lips as the voices outside fade into the next room. Comfort
should remember a split second of sunray through rain. Everything
goes clear. I am making vows to find it. Go on, you say. The tyrants
are dead.
