The Water At Your Door

Could fill the bathtub of regret

Sounds hypnotic on a windless night

Might distract from the dull scissors

                        Against the stained photographs

Will wake you from shivering, drugged sleep

Should float you to a sounder conviction

John Abbott

The Bells Made Us Dizzy

The bells made us dizzy,

us college kids

woken by raucous chimes

from the highest point

on campus.

The melody always fuzzy at first,

Reaching us through a bad head,

thick tongue, all that’s left

of our revelry.

And, of course, the distance.

But as the music plays

the name drifts back

like the names of people

we met the night before

but the faces don’t always

match up

and sometimes there’s only

a composite image,

a moment which stands out.

The way a girl flicks ash off a cigarette,

one corner of her mouth

brightening

at a joke already heard, yet

still funny

or a song pouring from blown speakers

the lyrics jumbled

but the message clear:

this is the best time, these

are the best days

or at least we think so now.

So onto another party,

and then another until

the buzz is good

and so is the prospect

of going home

with someone

who will meet our eyes

come morning and

say, “Wake up, it’s time to learn.”

John Abbott