When the Dogs Bite: 16th September 2024

warm sunshine

in the autumnal garden

conference pears

There are ghosts, here.

People I half-recognise, but can't put a name

or an association to them.

Are they people I knew?

characters from books I once read

or actors playing themselves or other people?

Is my memory improving or becoming worse,

or do I see these people because they've died

and want to make amends for the wrongs they did me

(or I did them, for I'm sure I was a selfish

as any young person in my day)

or are my synapses burning out,

giving up the last image they held

in the dying of the light.

When the Dogs Bite