Brian Purcell #2 Growing Old

OK, this post is for brand new work, experimental, drafts, above all unpublished work - so this is what I'm going to do for the next month. Today I'm pairing a recent portrait with a poem called 'Growing Old' - both unpublished.

   

    

Growing Old
 

He lingers in the sun
                    carelessly
while outside the devils watch
                 as the rain comes
the old man, his limbs roused
         by the heat, where does he walk now
regarded by the girl
       a sad irrelevance, her perfect teeth
           smiling for another man
 

the cardinals choose the pontiff
              in the snow, but the smoke is black
and the teeth are white
                 smiling at another god
the fire that does not burn
                  lights an alien sun
old man, we walk around the fire
                 but cannot draw in
its heat, rattling through a windy house
             served notice of its dereliction
and the young girl begins to speak
           swallows us up whole
light glimmers

   from her perfect teeth
 

        the swallows dart around
the pylons of the bridge, the girl
       settles back, watches the rain
singe the leaves, the devils outside
                         are looking in
                         looking around at us
the rain trickles down
              their open mouths
they need no expression on their faces
they need only wait
               in the continual rain
as the light
burns