the others

the others
slipped into themselves
by moonlight
slipped out
of sight and through
our neighbour`s pasture
where a rope
stretched from one oak
to another
cloaked
in billowed bed sheets
loosed to the October night
cotton shirtsleeves
pale and cold
in almost dark
birds aloof
livening the clothesline
little boys and girls
materialised
as the ones
they were alive
daisies radiating waves
of glowing white
stung by a day 
in the sun
appeasing gods
who spaded
holes and grew them up
just to watch
them pass away
leaving her like a tree
devoid of  leaves
empty arms cradling
the unfilled spaces
swing sets lilt
in breezes idle
there are rooms
she never enters
drawers of clothes
that just won`t open
lest the cloying
smell of
baby talcum rise
to sting her eyes
the others -
they have others
left behind
her eyes spill reveries
that never can be
how neatly made
the bunk beds
the little boys and girls
go out to play
they sit in a place
at the back
of the throat
and keep close company
with sorrow
the others
slip into a spell
life after life
one day
the world will open up
earth will meet sky
hand over hand
we shall shimmy
up rope,
watery hope
upon watery hope


written by Reka Jellema and Kathryn Ross         November 2014


copyright Kathryn Ross and Reka Jellema 2014