War Widow



The telephone never rings. Still
you pick it up, smile into the static,
the breath of those you’ve loved; long dead.

The leaf you pick from the fall
rises and dips away with every ridge.
Fingers stiff from time, you trace.

Staring off into a distance limned
by cataracts and other collected debris,
you have forgotten none of the long-ago joy
of an ice-cream truck and its summer song.

Between the paving stones;
between tea, a cup, and the sound
of you pouring;
between the time you woke that morning
and the time when the letter came,
a tired sorrow: like an old flagellant
able only to tease with a weak sting.

Riding the elevator all day,
floor after floor after floor,
each stop some small victory whittled
from the hard stone of death, you smile.
They used to write epics about moments like this.
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Submitted by Nazetel on September 01, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
35

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXA XXX AXXX XXBBXAB XXXXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 783
Words 145
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 4, 7, 5

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    "War Widow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/108289/war-widow>.

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    Quiz

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    How many syllables an Iambic Pentameter line must have?
    A 3
    B 20
    C 12
    D 10