My Dignity, di Gin Harding

Gin Harding

My Dignity

I want to leave

but the timing isn’t right.

I stare as the grandfather clock bongs twice

and the tiger returns to its cage,

purring in all four corners

and humble for affection.

I want to leave

but the melody is wrong.

I hear Sinatra sing “when I was seventeen...”

while the cat paces in its cage

with a low rumble of discontent.

I turn around and wash the dishes.

I want to leave

but the season has changed.

Now its two below and too much snow outside,

and the tiger roars from its cage all night,

and I wonder if the bars are high enough

to keep me safe from the cold.

I want to leave

but there’s nowhere to go.

Georgia and Virginia are a long way from home.

While the cat paces with its usual lament,

a pitiful cry that’s never-ending,

so I go somewhere for a walk.

I want to leave

but the price is too high.

How do you weigh the heart when you’re dead?

So I open the cage and the tiger runs free

and I make a pitiful sob

as a part of me leaves.

(2012)

Published in The GNU: A Literary Journal
Spring/Summer 2013
National University

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Gin Harding

My Dignity

Condividere

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