' ' ' ' Stolen Laughter(For Junie) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

My soul
disguised as a shadow

drifted back
into my past

managed unseen
to cross the border

of Life
(& Death)

enter again
that room

where the memory
begins

(when the memory wasn’t even a memory)
but the real thing

my soul steals a crumb
of her laughter
nothing that could be
missed

the merest sliver.

I (then)
shiver

seeing my soul
stealing my sister’s
laughter

but not recognising it
seeing only

a shadow of a shadow.


Throwing off its shadowy
clothes

my soul
returns

smelling remotely of
a Past

the stale smell
of Death.

“Did you get it...did you get it! ”
I demand.


“Yes...yes...but don’t
ask me again! ”


“If God ever finds out...”


But I don’t hear
I am beyond

my soul’s
reproach

following the steps
of my tears

leading me to

the treasure
of her

laughter.

*******

Long for you to turn
& then...smile at me again.
But – the photo won’t
listen to me...'Listen to me! '
Deaf to everything but – Death.

********

Your grave buried now
beneath such snow & prayers.
Both angel & I
gazing at nothing...sky...
you so alive...in my head.

*******

So cold...my shadow
frozen to the ground...fract...ures
as I move away
I leave it behind and grow
another to take with me.

*******