Days slip by I didn’t know Your face was mired Til I saw An animal’s mask Of rivulets through ochre When you wept The women talking Over wire fences Hair tied up for war Rattan, acrylic, linoleum Didn’t see your fall Staccato cattle grid voices The dye fading The death truck’s passing roar Of furious evening birds Leaving, staying I don’t know which way fled Just reed-boned silhouettes Gone in the almost dark Grit cast in the footpaths of our faces The washing line creaks warning In the aftermathing silence Cries and sunsets Thin as guttered water
