Plough and Stars
She got off her shift a little after midnight,
and came, smiling, to my table
where I'd been waiting.
We walked out of the Plough and Stars,
into the snowy streets
in the deep fallows of February.
All night long, I said,
you are there for them,
fixing their drinks, smiling.
You have the greatest capacity for listening
I've ever seen.
I think they're all in love with you, you know.
She looked up at the snowflakes
drifting through the bright circles
of the streetlights.
I love them, was all she said.
And I love you.
Her breath was cinnamon-scented,
exhalation of life, in the cold night.
She was the only one I ever saw
taking candy from the little dish by the bar.
The rest of her clientele, lost through the hours
in cigarette smoke,
cheap drinks, and sadness,
briefly gentled.
copyright 2007 Malcolm Deeley and Gene Colan
________________________________________________________________________________________
To return to Gromagon Press Site Directory, please click here.
To view more of Gene Colan's artwork, please visit his website at genecolan.com.
She got off her shift a little after midnight,
and came, smiling, to my table
where I'd been waiting.
We walked out of the Plough and Stars,
into the snowy streets
in the deep fallows of February.
All night long, I said,
you are there for them,
fixing their drinks, smiling.
You have the greatest capacity for listening
I've ever seen.
I think they're all in love with you, you know.
She looked up at the snowflakes
drifting through the bright circles
of the streetlights.
I love them, was all she said.
And I love you.
Her breath was cinnamon-scented,
exhalation of life, in the cold night.
She was the only one I ever saw
taking candy from the little dish by the bar.
The rest of her clientele, lost through the hours
in cigarette smoke,
cheap drinks, and sadness,
briefly gentled.
copyright 2007 Malcolm Deeley and Gene Colan
________________________________________________________________________________________
To return to Gromagon Press Site Directory, please click here.
To view more of Gene Colan's artwork, please visit his website at genecolan.com.
