Michael Garrad's View

Are we “together”? Are we happy?

“We’ve been married 20 years…”

Are we happy, though?

“We’re still husband and wife.” (Or partners, or companions, or two people who happen to know each other! Connected!)

Right then! So, where does that leave us? Passionate for each other? Tolerant of each other? Comfortable with each other? Bored brainless?

Very few  of us want to admit that it’s perhaps just a little bit ordinary. Just a little bit! Children (did the right thing), home, car(s), caravan, boat, holiday home – you name the financial commitment. That’s what’s expected.

Then, again, we can be “happily divorced”, or “happily widowed”, or “happily single”. Or “happily” not much at all! Happily “existing”.

It’s a question of pretence. Nobody wants to admit their life is not what everyone else wants it to be! How they are perceived. Society shapes that.

And when the hard question is put – “Will you, won’t you, would you, might you?”, the answer invariably is “never say never”, usually uttered with a polite laugh (kind of off-the-cuff) because we want to give the impression we might be interested – but not really, truly! 

Not anything really. Easier that way. Less complicated! Less committed!

 The Quiet Dark

Still, in the dark that does not terrify,

That is the solitude,

Real is safety behind closed eyes,

Peace beyond the word,

Reality that is not harsh and cruel,

That which underscores the dream

separating imagination from memory,

And hones the senses,

Sharp, the bird call,

Blissful scent of fresh-cut meadow,

Consuming taste of Nature’s elixir,

Sight of black, enveloping, gentle,

Not the end, not death,

No, a shaft of generous sun

on face with hidden scars,

Oh, tranquil, this artificial night!

© Michael Garrad September 2012

Stay Lady

Stay lady in the lonely night,

Do not succumb without a fight,

Need you in the dawn cool light,

Plea, selfish, yes, sounds trite,

In death, I do not wish to write

words for you that are contrite,

In a whisper on this night

you seek to vanish from my sight,

Never! With all your might

hold close and hang on tight,

This Death mask, pale to white,

Fight and fight, and fight, and fight

the lure of this long night.

© Michael Garrad September 2012