the long bench by Jim Carruth - Scottish Poetry Library

For the times ahead
when we will be

as if at either end
of the long bench

where distance kept
is love’s measure

and death dances
the space between

when words alone
are not enough

and queued memories
reach out to touch

let longing be a store
of nut and seed

that grows each day
in strange hibernation

readying for its end –
the sharing of the feast.

Reproduced with permission of the author.

This poem was written in 2020 by the poet in response to the pandemic.