Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Coming Home After a Long Absence, Cleaning

by Florence Helbing



 
Green glass of the wine bottle,
empty
because it was a “good night.”

Relic
or artifact, evidence
of your tenure here.

It was good wine, too.
At the time, you told me
it would be a nice touch
in the life we were going
to have: sophisticated and
well-adjusted, sipping wine
on a balcony. Each still
handling the other
with care.

Outline of your absence
no longer so conspicuous.
That’s okay. There is a place in me still

for those people, drunk
and shiny with happiness, who saw
in the pink sliver of dawn
a future, and believed it was theirs.





Florence Helbing is currently in her last year as an undergraduate at Dickinson College pursuing a BA in Russian and Spanish Language & Literature. When not at school, she lives in Chicago and works as an assistant in a sculptor's studio. Soon, she will be moving to Moscow.

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