ONE NIGHT

PREPARED BY: EDCEL T. TASIC

 ANN GRAY

She was commended in the

National Poetry Competition
2010.
Her most recent collection is At
The Gate (2008).
Previous collections include The
Man I Was Promised (2004).
She has been a guest reader on
several Arvon courses and a tutor
at Ty Newydd.
She lives and works in Cornwall.
 ONE NIGHT

One night you’ll come back and I’ll wake

to see you moving noiselessly in your socks,
you’ll look bewildered, nothing’s quite the same.
You’ll be hunting through the drawers,
wondering where your clothes are.

I won’t move or speak, I’ll try not to breathe.

I’ll want to say, look in the wardrobe,
I saved your Levi boots and leather jacket.
I’ll watch you lift photos in their frames,
take them to the window. Some faces
you won’t know. You’ll guess at Beth.

I’
 ONE NIGHT

I’ll watch you sink to your knees,

cover your head with your hands.
I’ll hear you whisper, Nick. Nick got married.
I’ll watch you disappear to the bathroom,
hear you brush your teeth, hear you pee,
see you reappear with a glass of whisky.

You’ll sit on the edge of the bed for ages,

until you turn and lift my hair, touch my neck,
then hold your mouth there.
Then you’ll say, so what happened?
and I’ll say, how long have you got?
THANK YOU!