Longing
After Hafiz
Longing curls its legs up on the sofa in our house.
There’s a dip there now.
How I long to turn us into a day trip.
You belong in that chair over there
asking what happened with that text
and where I bought this jumper,
whether I’ve left it too late to plant courgettes this year,
the prayer plant is doing well –
it must like it’s spot on the hearth.
I can’t make any promises
but I think you could have been happy here.
I’d have let you be in charge of the heating.
We could have gone for a walk,
explored this neighbourhood in which (I’m told)
even the dogs will greet you.
Later we could have bathed our unborn babies
wrapped them up as one giant swaddle,
stretched out the fabric between us.
I wonder if you too are struggling to hold on.
Most days as I grasp for you,
turn and say, “this thing happened today” to an empty space –
do you feel the tug on your heart?
Nelly Bryce is a feminist poet, writer and mother of four from Manchester. She published her first book of poetry, Motherhood minus the medals, in 2022 and runs a poetry community for women on Substack called Poetry Pals.