A Modern Poem Poem by David Tremain

Happy while you were away
(I will not lie)
Nonetheless I kept an image of you
On my mind
And thought of you;
And that, when you returned
You could not help but see
The blush upon my cheek,
The telling smile and punctuation
Following your name when I typed 'Hello'
And in all probability
You too would feel the same for me.

Thus I mused in silent hours
Looking back at messages
And calling then upon those powers
Which ordinarily I denied-
But who without faith has never tried
Some desperate and vain appeal
To something which they did not feel
Existed? Still, I digress.

What purpose have these lines?
None, for you will not read them,
Here, or in a text perhaps,
Nor ever hear them spoken.
They hold no message-
Except that I love you
(why I do not know) -
And no image, save that of me loving you.

Hence are they empty- mere indulgences,
Soul-flies sent up to buzz about my head
With lies I must not entertain
And vows which play upon my breath,
Threatening to cast their shadow on my speech.

Yet if you could hear them, did read this
I like to think that you would stop
And smile, and nod and sigh.
Still, never mind.
Soon you will be gone again
And I will be writing this for someone else