Ed Burle
The man with the shaven head has given up
his hair
because he has lost, because he has lost her;
because she’s made it quite clear –
that something, for her, has changed irreversibly;
because no matter how often he can say those words to her –
say them as he did only yesterday, as he goes on saying them
even now – they cannot unsay those things that have been said;
because he can see, there is no place here to hide;
because nothing can stop
what is pushing them, has moved them apart;
because she – troubled, lovely – more lovely perhaps
than she’s ever been to him –
she is so far from him now;
because if there is a future for them – whatever it may be –
it isn’t here or now,
and each of them must try to find their way;
because perhaps even from pain, and from all
that now is lost,
someday, something may grow;
because even if it was – even if it still is – this fight
is no longer worth fighting for.
(published in This Recurrence of Light, Ecca, 2022)
Featured at The Red Wheelbarrow on 4 August 2022 as one of the Ecca poets