There
should be a law against it
For
Yasmin.
by
Paul Radcliffe
A
pub guitarist, two
days ago, playing “Wicked Game” while I am thinking about you, and a golden
retriever is attempting eye contact . . . and hypnosis . . .
There should be a law against it
Booking
a seat to
see We Wait in Time, and not booking
you the next seat with a large glass of Spy Valley Sauvignon . . .
There should be a law against it
Not having
you with me when the
leaves have fallen on the hospital path, and the ghosts of drowned nurses smile
through their tears. And remember the waves closing over them. . . .
There should be a law against it
Writing
one poem
when it should be a leatherbound volume of Collected
Works . . . .
There should be a law against it
Imagining
you in an old black T-shirt
from the holiday paradise of Afghanistan with an angel on the back, and knowing
it is pointless for me to think about wearing it ever again . . .
There should be a law against it
Looking for your
initials on the grey shingle on a New Zealand beach, and finding them on every
stone. . . .
There should be a law against it
A
beautiful ghost
with your name, her lost child, and the Three of Swords hanging as the price
paid
There should be a law against it
Paul
Radcliffe is an Emergency RN. In the past, he worked in an
area where children were sometimes afflicted with sickness of Gothic
proportions. Some are ghosts now. As a child he visited an aunt in a haunted
farmhouse. This explains a lot. Paul has worked in a variety of noisy places
unlikely to be on anyone’s list of holiday destinations. He is also a highly
suggestible subject for any cat requiring feeding and practicing hypnosis.
