The bustle in a house
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth, –
The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.
Emily Dickenson
***
Lament for Shy Man
He would have hated this
the man who turned his face
to hedgerows rather than risk
a greeting on a country road.
It would be another death
to know the details of his life
were being discussed over
breakfast, at church gates,
in hazy snugs as far as
Moate and Mullingar.
Nessa O’Mahoney
Courtesy of the anthology, “The Backyards of Heaven”