His Soft Words 1962 Poem by Terry Collett

Shoshana
mused on
Naaman a

boy from school
her sister
was in her

own bedroom
soft sobbing
Shoshana

had walked past
the closed door
she didn't

knock or call
just walked past
her sister

was pregnant
their father
was rowing

downstairs with
their mother
Shoshana

shut her door
slowly walked
to the wide

window and
looked out at
the garden

she could see
where her dad
had dug the

flower bed
there were birds
pulling our

soft earthworms
with their beaks
Naaman would

know which birds
they all were
she wished he

was there now
beside her
with his book

of wild birds
and his arm
about her

whispering
in her ear
his soft words.