Long Distance Ii Poem by Tony Harrison

Long Distance Ii

Rating: 3.5


Though my mother was already two years dead
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,
put hot water bottles her side of the bed
and still went to renew her transport pass.

You couldn't just drop in. You had to phone.
He'd put you off an hour to give him time
to clear away her things and look alone
as though his still raw love were such a crime.

He couldn't risk my blight of disbelief
though sure that very soon he'd hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.
He knew she'd just popped out to get the tea.

I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
You haven't both gone shopping; just the same,
in my new black leather phone book there's your name
and the disconnected number I still call.


Submitted by Scott Dagostino

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
David Bedford 16 January 2006

My brother died 3 years ago, and his wife, my sister-in-law, has been distraught. She has maintained his voice message on their telephone still, which has caused comment among the rest of the family and people who telephone her. This moving poem for the first time made me understand her desperate feelings of bereavement, and how she is clinging on.

44 27 Reply
David Coe 21 January 2012

To all who read this poem: phone your parents and if you can't tell them you love them just let them know you're thinking of them.Believe me, they're a long time dead!

29 34 Reply
Josephine Collett 10 February 2012

Wonderful poem Tony, speaks so eloquently of the permanence of the ones we love.

32 28 Reply
sushila 17 December 2019

this poem reminds me of my long lost love sushila number 2.

1 0 Reply
Thankamani 17 December 2019

Susu, is this you? Please find me my darling. Love you beta. I have made your favorite pakoras and aloo gobi

1 0
Thankamani 17 December 2019

My darling, is this you? ? Please find me.

1 0
Muzahidul Reza 06 April 2018

put hot water bottles her side of the bed and still went to renew her transport pass......... well penned

1 1 Reply
Joshua Adeyemi 05 April 2018

He couldn't risk my blight of disbelief though sure that very soon he'd hear her key scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief. He knew she'd just popped out to get the tea.

2 1 Reply
Geeta Radhakrishna Menon 05 April 2018

The emotions and events are so poignantly expressed. It tugs at the heart. Beautiful poem dear poet. I loved it.

3 1 Reply
Glen Kappy 05 April 2018

This is a great poem, I think, in its poignancy, wry humor and wisdom, and the craft that packages it. The last stanza both follows and surprises with what precedes it—it’s a kicker, a flourishing finish, an exclamation point to the whole. -GK

3 1 Reply
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