Len Webster's 'Behind Glass Screens' Poem by Len Webster

Behind glass screens, they lived and died,
Each watching the other's flame flicker,
Roar up, and singe the air,
Each wondering whose flame would be the first to go.

Glass screens shield words from words.
There is only a mouthing difficult to follow,
Like an airport terminal's dividing wall of glass
Where passengers mouth back their fond farewells.

Glass screens without doors, separate worlds
Containing treasure troves of bonds
That only death can break.

We have parted many times before like this:
The farewell before the journey beyond the glass,
The mouthing of meanings we merely guess,
Each journey a new beginning, it is said;
Each journey a new ending,
Our lives lived out like this,
Behind glass screens.