A poem by AMY MACPHERSON

 

The Tower windows rattle as rain falls,

The staircase cruelly howls.

Clouds bear over the English winter day

And through them softly shine

Such rays of light that never have been seen.

And never will be now

Beyond this winter’s day in February.

 

I see those pavestones glitter down below.

The falling of raindrops

Pre-empt the thud of cruelty and dismay.

I hear them now, I see those

Pavestones brighten with the hope

Of more delay

But not upon this lonely, dismal day.

 

In summer, sunshine lit these grounds

With gentle rays that passed me by

For I abound here in these shadowed depths.

Today is a darker day

Pearl white and finite grey.

Must all my griefs be mounted on display

Upon my dark and lonely, dismal day?

 

The bars cast shadows on this stony floor.

Their shadows on my face

Are circling round – they will not let me go!

And all at once in silence I’m alone.

No comfort to be had

In better days

For they are not for me.

And now I see through glistening eyes of grey

That I am for this lonely, dismal day.