The Missing

What will I miss the most, I thought,

Now that she’s not around,

I walked back slowly to the Port

With my face turned to the ground,

Would I miss the incessant chatter that

Would drive St. Peter mad?

Or sit with a sigh of pure relief

At the absence of it… Sad!

And what of the silly songs she sang

When I often used to curse,

Telling her that she’d got it wrong,

Forgotten the second verse,

For then she would just ignore me

And go out and feed the birds,

Singing the same old song again

But making up the words.

I’d ask her to wear the blue dress

So she’d go and wear the green,

The one that had such a diving top

That her cleavage was obscene,

She’d only do it to thwart we when

We’d visit with my kin,

Annoying my strait-laced mother,

‘How on earth do you keep them in?’

She was just the size of a hobbit, or

A tiny little sprite,

Would lie with her back towards me

When we cuddled up at night,

Those were the things that I would miss

I thought, with just a tear,

Why did she have to leave me at

The turning of the year?

Christmas never would be the same,

She’d decorate the tree,

Getting the lights a-blinking which

Was more than they did for me,

I entered the door at home, and listened,

Nary a single sound,

And never would be again, now she

Was planted in the ground.

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Corset]

I’d ask her to wear the blue dress
So she’d go and wear the green,
The one that had such a diving top
That her cleavage was obscene,
She’d only do it to thwart we when
We’d visit with my kin,
Annoying my strait-laced mother,
‘How on earth do you keep them in?’

love it! almost spewed coffee all over the screen, just brilliant :)

[Coyote Poetry]

A wonderful story shared my friend. I hope you are doing well. Thank you David for sharing the outstanding tale.
Coyote

[T.S. Sky]

This made me feel sadness. A real feeling most people this time of year.

[Paper]

The levels of emotion and gravity of it all grew as I read. Definitely not expecting to feel everything I did, by the end of it. I'm very surprised.

[ChrissieDH]

I loved this! There is something that feels genuine in the humour and sadness.

[flameinthesnow]

A bit of a bite to that one, a sardonic cynicism almost like a Dorothy Parker poem.

[Kelly Scheppers]

How complacent we become in the latter years of marriage. Once the passion and love wanes, we too wish to depart. I liked how you allowed the reader to see the satire of years between the two.

Nice to meet you, David!

[Tony Jordan]

They can and do grate so. But then we are very aware of their absence and regretful perhaps that we didn't learn to love their idiosyncrasies when they were alive.
'hobbit' - too funny DLP ! lol
Well done mate.
:D

[Avinash]

This one caught the reader off-guard. I am always conscious with your every word because the plot can twist any moment but this one completely unpredictable.

[KT-B]

aw sad wee ending, non the less another masterpiece :)