To Dave.
He would have done the same for me.
'I Cut The Lady's Lawn Today'
by Valentine
I cut the lady's lawn today
Didn't take long
Had to be careful, you understand
Not with the lawn,
No, that was easy;
Careful that she was looking
Through the window
At me
Where he would have been
Six weeks ago
It would have been him doing it
But, six weeks ago,
I was beating
Pumping
And banging
On his chest
His dead chest
Looking
At his purple face
Stare up at me
To no avail
We couldn't quite believe
Could not comprehend
What horror was unfurling
Under our fists
He was with us
But thirty minutes earlier
Now gone
I cut the lady's lawn today
Didn't take long
But it helped.
Love it. The line lengths perfectly suit the theme, every line emphasising the words, the radical enjambment, caesuras, and unexpected breaches of punctuation suit the unfolding, unexpected emergency, death and grief, and the respect and care for the lady. Nice moments of repetition adding to both rhythm and theme. Vivid showing. I can feel myself there, almost a part of you.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Well told. Unexpected twists. Sense of empathy and caring. A new take on shock and grief. Endstops, caesuras and radical enjambment suit the cadence, meaning and theme.