New poem

[carose59]

Fifteen Minute Break


I didn't hear what she said to him, but I knew it wasn't good because
after a pause he said, "Thank you for your honesty."
And maybe there was the slightest stiffness to the pause,
and maybe there was the slightest chilliness to the way he said it.

The conversation went on,
and on.
And what I heard were mostly the beginnings of sentences because
his volume would drop about halfway through.
He wasn't happy about having to work Saturdays;
that much I got.

I couldn't understand what she said at all.
(The acoustics in our lounge are equally bad for tranquility or for dropping eaves.)


The last thing I heard him say was one of those paternal cliché things.
"Well! Just keep up that enthusiasm, because the important thing is that you enjoy life!"

I don't even want to know what they were talking about.