Monday, October 5, 2015

Unfaithful

East Kent, 4 October 2015. Matched with “Faithful”


Unfaithful


Ed and Sue were frequently unfaithful
In their sleep
He in hers, she in his
These secrets they can’t keep
Involuntary images
Come unbidden from the deep.


They blush at each confession
Over sips of morning tea
Each is self-reproachful
At imagined perfidy
Acting - their profession -
Trafficked in treachery.


Their faithfulness is like a rose
A flower without season
It ornaments a lonely stage
With petals flecked and hue uneven
Its beauty deepens each passing year
They hardly know the reason.


When gratefully they shut their eyes
On curtain fall each night
Sue turns every freighted moment
Under fluttering lids, Ed flies light
In mingled dreams they fleeting meet
And before the footlights improvise.