Saturday, January 30, 2016

Faithful

East Kent, 30 January 2016. One half, with "Unfaithful", of a matched pair, or diptych.

Ed and Sue were scrupulously faithful
By their lights
They scrapped and fought in public
And lobbied for their rights  
But clasp each other needily
Under soapy-scented sheets at night.


Wordless they swap knowing glances
Over cups of fresh coffee
Ed thinks he may have gone too far
At last night’s drinks party
Sue thinks it may have been unwise
To join the Ed-baiting fraternity.


Their faithfulness is a battered trunk
Some old prop from pantomime
It’s stout, and not unhandsome
Still not yet past its prime
Beauty dwells in its check-papered walls
Its sheaf of memories cosseted in time.


If every day is a crooked road
That winds uphill on broken ground
Ed and Sue are grateful
For views from stony mounds
They tramp each road together
And wonder at the world so round.