(For Neil Armstrong)
In her white silent place, the hangings dust,
grey pebbles stretching to the edge of black
so far away. The goddess feels a lack
somewhere elsewhere, an ache deep as her crust
and weeps dry tears. The gentleman is gone
the first who ever called. His feet were light
as he danced on her. Went into the night
quite soon, his calling and his mission done
yet still his marks remain. Footfalls and flag.
The others she forgets. He was the first
to slake her ages long and lonely thirst
for suitors. Now she feels the years drag
as they did not before he came to call.
Our grief compared to hers weighs naught at all.
Roz Kaveney's novel Rhapsody of Blood: Rituals is just out from Plus One Press. Next month, A Midsummer Night's Press will publish two poetry collections, Dialectic of the Flesh and What If What's Imagined Were All True.
