All in black
Slender as a reed
all in black
dark bobbed hair
green eyes
red lips
perches sidesaddle
on the crossbar
of my bicycle
she tinkles a laugh
as my old legs crank
the pedals
“I love you,”
I whisper seriously
following her perfume
and pressing my lips
to her cheek
“Your not loving me
would be inconceivable,”
she laughs
I wobble
and strike the curb
tumbling us in an untidy heap
onto the grass verge
“Now look what you
made me do,”
I laugh back.
I can still taste
her skin
on my lips
when I awake.
• John
Irvine writes… “John Irvine is an Old Aged Pensioner in New Zealand
with delusions of immortal failure and a cynical view of life. He has a
mole under his left arm, and a wife who hates pizza and tripe. He hopes
to die painlessly one day without warning, and with a minimum of
leakage.”
