To a Photographer

For me it always helps to write a poem when I suffer the loss of a loved one
So here is one of these poems.

To a Photographer

Wuthering heights etched in black charcoal.
You wanted to paint it
to your own kaleidoscope of colour
dispelling all the gloom of love betrayed
and vengeance raging.

You carefully placed your frame
with your back to the window.
And so we have it -
You reflected in the painting
Your shadow, like an angel, stretched
in the taking of it.

Almost a year now since your passing
leaving us "with our arms the one length,"
as you would say.
Paint peeling on window frames and doors.
Hooks fallen from their appointed places.
Our lives frayed edges we can't mend.
Zips that don't meet, buttons unstrung.

And you no longer there to fasten them.


Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2001