Pleasant News
In your mind
all night long, sleepless,
you promised not to cry
to go and arrange flowers
in a plastic vase
fill it with water
from the cemetery fountain
you promised not to cry
perishable hopeless hope
like that first time
in the school yard,
grade one,
he squeezed your fingers
emotional defeat for
the strong grip of the boy
you fell in love and married.
How often do you visit
the grave of your beloved
bringing tales of laughter and
never a single sad story?
Manolis Aligizakis 