‘Longing’ by Shirley Wright

Longing

Breath on the back of my neck,
fingertips that slip away,
footsteps behind me
fading the more I strain to hear,
felt as a shiver in the gut,
the gravitational pull of planets,
a gene lurking in strands of DNA
like a song bound to endless repeats.
I catch you in unsuspecting mirrors,
a ghost in peripheral vision,
the glance I cannot stop,
the res mirabilis promise of bliss.
Turning round is irresistible.
We are all Orpheus.

We are all Orpheus.
Turning round is irresistible,
the res mirabilis promise of bliss,
the glance I cannot stop.
A ghost in peripheral vision,
I catch you in unsuspecting mirrors
like a song bound to endless repeats,
a gene lurking in strands of DNA,
the gravitational pull of planets
felt as a shiver in the gut,
fading the more I strain to hear
footsteps behind me,
fingertips that slip away,
breath on the back of my neck.
 
 
Shirley Wright has poems published in, for example, The Interpreter’s House, Equinox, The French Literary Review, Other Poetry. Her novel Time out of Mind came out this summer as an e-book from ThornBerry Publishing and her first poetry collection will be published next July by Indigo Dreams. Follow her on Twitter @SSWright

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