‘A Pleasure’
by Grace Power

 What a pleasure it is
 to walk beneath a sun that
 once touched your skin and
 to feel it touch mine.
 Looking up at the clouds I mark
 the shapes into which they unravel
 and wonder at the clouds that
 must have unravelled across the sky
 above your head.
 I think about what
 you might have said to
 the moon, late at night
 while you sat on the roof of
 your neighbour’s house
 pouring brandy down
 your throat. Sometimes
 I ask it (the moon)
 but it keeps your secrets well.
 I cannot comprehend
 how you convinced the stars
 to hold their gossiping tongues
 and keep from me the
 music that must have
 passed from your lips
 into the sky
 for whenever I look up
 they are whispering and giggling
 amongst themselves.
 Never silent, they fall
 away from one another
 in feud, only to fall
 together again soon after.
 Are we like the stars?
 Will it take only a fall
 to bring me to you
 once more? What a
 pleasure it will be to
 find out.