After The Fall Poem by Amanda J Harrington

When it's cold enough for frost

The old fisherman mends the fence

Leading down to the shore

Confident other jobs can wait

And tourists won't disturb his work



Lying on the floor

It feels cold enough for anything

Frost no exception

In his own world of pain

Not knowing the difference

Without or within

His boots beating the ground

As he fits

After the fall



Silence comes on a darkened night

The moon hidden from the earth

The smell of his last supper

Mouldering next to the stove

His slippers waiting on the cold hearth



Somewhere his wife calls.

She's been gone five years

And he blinks

Expecting death



He hears it again

As the calling of a crow

And he wonders

If she came back

Dressed in black

To sing him to sleep.