‘Hey’

Your husky voice caught me by surprise

Not that I didn’t know it, or the deep laugh that followed,

But because of the unexpected jab and then praise

For my efforts to dig through four decades of Mum and King Billy’s lilies.

We were all drenched by mid-day

You and the saws-all against railroad tie

The contest shook the living daylights out of you

Still, you walked away victorious and said

You thought you would tackle the shingles next.

I would swear on the bible in the piano bench

That it was only last week

Now it gets dark before supper

And ice forms as crystal against old glass

Winter will not be long in coming again

I listened for you today

In the flash of rainbow light against a white cloud

I couldn’t hear a thing

I thought I knew your voice in every season,

yet I miscounted, you might say –

‘No. It was only two.’