Edward S Gault

THE PENDANT

During our courtship,

We found it at Leavitt and Pierce,

Back in the nook where the jewelry was kept.

You fell in love with it,

So we got it

           A small amber heart, with a leaf at the top where the chain link was, 

                                        And a hot crimson, like an apple.

When we said “I do,”

I put the ring on your finger,

And it joined the heart around your neck.

For years we were happy, we were part of each other,

And you wore the pendant as it was part of you.

Then we began to grow apart.

After that, I didn’t see the heart.

It must have disappeared in a drawer,

With the wedding band soon after.

I never understood, 

you never said why.

I grieved, then after awhile,

I could no longer cry.

I just watched as you drifted away.

THE 506

The 506 pulled out of South Station at 6:05

They usually have you walk to the furthest car.

I usually ran, not for fitness,

Just not to miss it.

I leaned back in the seat, closed my eyes

                                              I couldn’t read the paper right then.

                                                              Eyes too heavy

I thought back to my day at the museum.

This lady was explaining Compton’s painting to her son

A horse’s head is in the doorway,

The mother is feeding it,

The children are at the table eating,

As if everything is normal.

Maybe it is.

The father is absent.

“Just like in our family”, the woman had said

“We are not the first”.

It brought me back to the hospital, the night my daughter was born.

Holding her close, nestled in a blanket in my arm,

I would never not be there for her.

I got out the Boston Globe, 

Thumbing through the pages for the editorial

The columnist was discussing why the Democrats deserved to lose

                                                                     ~  they couldn’t communicate, he said.

I noticed we weren’t moving.

An announcement said there would be a delay,

They would be moving shortly.

Whatever that meant.

They never gave real info.

People in the next seat were talking to the conductor.

Something about sabotage

                                         Gasoline cans placed on the tracks.

I texted Marcy, told her of the delay

And why.

45 minutes later, the announcer said

Lincoln would be the last stop.

I texted the news to Marcy,

When I stepped off at Lincoln,

She was there with Piper

We chatted about the day

On the drive home.

The next day,

Piper came to me and said,

(She did not call me Dad),

“Last night I was hoping you would die in the explosion

from the gas on the tracks.”

*Painting is Frederick George Compton’s "ONE OF THE FAMILY”.