Shut Up! © 08 Paul Jenkins

Another night
of interrupted sleep,
after I heard,
as I thought,
a duck laugh at me
from out the trees,
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,”
Heard Alzheimer
spell out my name;
saw my face
reflected in the water.
God’s mocking me I fear!

A kingfisher flew downstream
late in the evening,
close to the surface of my thoughts,
following the bend in the river.
A ring of roses
settles on the surface of the water;
pockets full of poses,
poems and pees.
We all fall down,
sooner or later.

Later,
after the rain has dappled the leaves,
and pimpled the surface of the river,
I lie resting,
eating dirt,
facing upstream.
A familiar face
without a name,
passes me by.
It’s become so very, very quite
here!

I ran thirty miles or so
some little time ago;
but no-one believes it.
Didn’t they see
blood on my feet,
the pain
of my stiffening gait?
Oh woe is me
when I am no longer heard,
or touched;
no longer seen.

Shut up!
SHUT UP!