‘Light and Darkness’ anthology includes ‘The Stopped Watch’ first published by Forward Poetry – ISBN 1844187284 – on 31 August 2017.
The Stopped Watch
The stopped watch on the wrist is right twice a day,
The tide creeps slowly over the empty bay,
The weather vane turns when the west wind blows,
But the pain has stopped forever.
***
The milkman rattles his visits at break of dawn,
The newsboy following is just as soon gone,
The postman still occasionally calls,
But the pain has stopped forever.
***
The breakfast channel is permanently switched on,
The lunchtime bulletin flickers and is done,
The late News passes before empty eyes,
But the pain has stopped forever.
***
The neighbours walk past but have no reason to call,
The telephone sits silently in the hall,
The keyboard waits as the monitor rests,
But the pain has stopped forever.
***
The woman sits looking at the watch on her wrist,
The hands stopped at the time she chose to resist,
The memories preventing her return,
But the pain has stopped forever.
***
The faithful dog lies dead at the foot of the stairs,
The bloodied corpse on the bed no longer cares,
The shotgun lies spent on the bedroom floor,
And the pain has stopped forever.
***
©David Lewis Pogson 2017
David Lewis Pogson, Writer 