Two Sublime Poems by Lilija Valis

 

SUN DAY 

 

It is Sunday, the sun

spills into empty streets,

I stop by the beach

on the way to the hospital,

a volley of laughter

cuts the reggae beat of a radio,

shouts hover over crowds

          like invisible birds,

boats drop sails to linger

in their own reflections

 

I walk through the hot silence

of the hospital corridor,

take the stairs to the second floor,

your room is still

          the flowers in the vase

are curling at the edges 

you are burning in another sun

the cool water I give

          you are unable to swallow

your chest is heaving    

          whole body resisting

my hand closes over yours

I call for the nurse

then insist on a doctor

 

I watch through the window

as the doctor takes a side path

six-year old daughter in hand,

he enters your room without her

his feet in thongs,

his actions are abrupt,

he hardly touches you,                

‘What’s the point?’ he asks me,

glances at his watch,

I notice sand stuck to his feet,

know his daughter is waiting for him,

and that he can’t see the soul

of the dying man

 

the sun strikes a window

                   across the yard

and for a moment I go blind.

THE PROMISE 

 

When you died

I could not look

at the lights across the bay,

the white skyline wavering in water,

I could not sail through the colours of the strait,

or sway to the conga drums on the beach.

I hated the beauty that once held a promise.

 

Now I understand.

The promise was kept after all,

in the way mountains rise above clouds

and the sky comes down to the sea,

the way daffodils light up dark windows

and people shed clothes in the sun,

in the way we hugged each other for joy.

 

The promise was not that of a future.

Lilija Valis has lived on three continents, in some major cities, including Washington, DC, and San Francisco when there was music in the streets and strangers hugged each other, published in book, literary and e-zine magazines, as well as nine international anthologies, and performed in public libraries, parks, old theatres, pubs, among other places. Asked to step side by COVID until it finishes its performance..

www.lilijavalis.com

http://pursuitofmisery.wordpress.com/