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.
Peter Serchuk's poems
have appeared in Poetry, Boulevard, Paris Review, Denver Quarterly, American Poetry Review, as well as POEM, New Plains Review,
Lullwater Review, Poet Lore, North American Review, Inkwell, and Valparaiso Review. His collection of poems, Waiting for Poppa at the
Smithtown Diner, was
published by the University of Illinois Press.
