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Derek Wright: ‘Mislaid’

Derek Wright

Sep 30 2021

1 mins

                            Mislaid

     He’s missing a sock, she a glove

     lost in the wash or dropped in the rain somewhere.

     They keep its twin in memory of

     a world that once went round in pairs.

     Worn out with disuse, no mending

     can save it from an ending.

 

     Not unpartnered like their errant clothes,

     they do not miss the other gone

     or see them leave. They wear the losses

     from the first signs their course is run

     till the last grief gets up and goes.

     Barefoot or sleeveless in summer dresses,

     they miss the things they seldom wear

     only when half the wardrobe’s bare.

                                   Derek Wright

 

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