Left Over Wine


It’s fragile and rehearsed in this mind cask
home pleasures are like the sentiment
of crisp, summer wine.

It mouths ‘get help!’
so you dive unexpectedly
into the freezing brook
through wooded trees
            perfectly still.
Only you’ve had more wine than usual
         and distortion wins.

The grass is intense
and there’s plenty of green-
it’s like having a bottle
                  you’ve saved all these years.
Blackberries hedge the railway bridge
                 mulberries give a whole new meaning
                 to bottled jam-
                 the purple avenger stays before tea.

You say ‘no’ to this dream in your head
it’s a letting down of home-field
the school team
you approach fewer each year.

You let the grader scrape the voices in the glade
swing the river rope you missed
                        hold your breath longer under water.

You can’t remember how many silkworms you kept
or when the blackberries disappeared
            but the wine tastes sweeter than it used to.

The old neighbourhood has disappeared in brick
the weathercock is a stable dish
                     and backyard pickets no longer talk.

You turn over, wake in a different world.


Helen Jean Hagemann copyright

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