I Wish (After Brodsky) Poem by Richard G Berg

I wish you were
Not here
Dear

I wish you were
Far removed,
To outer space
We could watch each other,
You on Uranus
Me, from an entirely better
Place.

I wish you could
See me,
As I see you
Now, dear,
Seeing the heart
Of your concrete soul
Concreted over by tarmac roll.

I wish you were here,
Dear,
Not in the same room
Bearing my hand,
But far away
In another apartment block
Or in a different city,
With your new life, bland.

I wish you were
Able to turn back time
I wish you could have missed
The flight on which we met,
And saved me a fortune
On flowers, flights and bills for the vet.

I wish you were here,
Right here
On this blank white page,
Enjoying the sideshow
While my poem
Takes centre stage.

I wish you were here
Inside my head,
Tucked up quietly
Coming nowhere near
My warm bed,
I wish you and I
Could erase our past
I wish you could rot in jail
And make this last.



Richard G Berg
September 2019