Been there, done that
I was awed into prehistoric silence
in the 2000 total solar eclipse, was woken
at 3.00am when camping in the mountains
of Wales to witness the perfect comet
I’ve been loved and been hated
been poor, had enough and too much
watched otters playing and feeding
on the sand, swum in tropical waters
and come face to face with a sea snake
to whose bite there is no antidote
I’ve played music for my own enjoyment,
and less willingly for the entertainment
of others. I’ve been cast as Tybalt in Romeo
and Juliet, loved lavishly and broken someone’s
heart. I could go on, but what I really want
to say is that it strikes me as sad,
that although an even brighter comet is visible
in the sky tonight, I have chosen to come to bed.
Alwyn Marriage’s fifteen books include poetry, fiction and non-fiction and she’s widely published in magazines, anthologies and online. Her latest books are The Elder Race (fiction), and Pandora’s Pandemic and Possibly a Pomegranate (both poetry). For the last 14 years she’s been Managing Editor of Oversteps Books. www.marriages.me.uk/alwyn
Black Nore Review 