The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Peter Serchuk

Under a Lavender Rose

Twenty-five years

after he offered me

his hand and his smile,

after he offered me

the blindness of his eye

and the pulse of his affection,

after he gave me the children

that bloomed in my dreams

and the diamonds that lit candles

in my eyes, after all those years

when he flattered my imagination

as it dozed and my figure as

it spread, when I grew tired

of cleaning, cooking and driving,

and the nagging obligations

of caring and loving, when all

I could do was ration my time

and affection thinking, if only

he would leave me alone to

my silence and seeking,

I found his own silence waiting

under a lavender rose in

the suddenly quiet kitchen.