.................................
Skylark
.................................

Eliza sat in silence in the dark,
a cigarette forgotten in her hand.
She listened to Sinatra sing Skylark

again, again. She used the dying spark
of each smoke for the next one. Understand--
Eliza sat in silence in the dark,

but not by choice. She liked to watch the arc
of embers falling floorward. Fire fanned,
she listened to Sinatra sing Skylark.

A thoughtless friend, her husband's harsh remark,
a chore undone, or anything else, and
Eliza sat in silence in the dark

again, again. She cleared the room out, stark
save for the record player on its stand.
She listened to Sinatra sing Skylark

while carpet cracked and burned like brittle bark,
like she did. Whiskey-numb, the way she planned,
Eliza sat in silence in the dark.
She listened to Sinatra sing Skylark.

.................................
Ruth E. Foley
.................................

 
Copyright © Ruth E. Foley
August 2000

...a poem in this room by EA Lynch...
here there be dragons
Return to Agnieszka's Dowry Welcoming Room