A Leavetaking

The wet washing you pegged out on the balcony
was ad hoc scenery for conversations that took us
from future prospects to family snaps to how you
might never have been. I leant on the railing.
Light slanting on the blocks’ facades
promised some kind of return, though none
of us had a clue when that might be.
Words served as poor deferrals.

Outside the terminal’s crowded concourse,
we perched on tilted seating,
where the history and the politics
seemed for once to have no meaning.
I was someone else then for a while,
not entirely here nor there.

Taxis came and went. An aircraft revved
its turbines. At the check-in desk,
it occurred to me that I didn’t know
how either of you were going to make it home.

Tom Phillips

If you have any comments on this poem,  Tom Phillips  would be pleased to hear from you.