October 23, In Penarth

Alone I sit in the library awaiting your arrival
Like a child in wait of Christmas morn
Hours soon push the day in to dusk, and I
Make true effort not to succumb to petty worry.

I have poured the tea and prepared cakes for your welcome,
Marking time by conversing with the snapping playful flames
As I stir the fire to keep Autumn's chill at bay this eve,
I discover a new crack or two in the brick lining of the fireplace.

My flannel dressing gown is warm, but cool dampness permeates
The stones that hold this stead atop this secluded ragged knoll.
Dreariest of rains has invited itself to our little rendezvous,
Pelting drops tap on the window as if asking permission to come inside.

I turn my attention to the leather bound book atop the mahogany desk
A volume of light verses to appease unwelcome anxiety that has taken root.
Temporary distraction is boorishly interrupted by a clap of thunder
So loud it counfounds me and I scrape my toe on the blackened fire poker.

Worry in earnest begins to niggle at my thoughts as I peer outside
Into the empty night and the desolate pebbled lane that leads from the road.
Black water now coarses through its sunbleached rounded stones,
Wind lifts the branches just enough to send shadows scampering in the lamplight.

I focus on the candleholder with its beeswax slowly dripping to the floor,
Straining my ear to detect any beat of horses' hooves outside,
Or the creak of carriage wheels across the old wooden bridge down the way.
An answer of destitution is the only response I can glean.

By the saints! Why cannot my mind be quieted but for a moment?
Have the demons that lurk in the peat bogs overtaken you?
Perhaps you were robbed and beaten by ruthless highwaymen..
My heart threatens to explode with calculated uncertainty.

I cloak myself with a worn dandelion colored blanket and retire to the settee,
Resting my weary neck on the dingy floral patterned arm. There is no other
Choice but to pretend that you are here with me, encircling me in your warmth.
Sleep ere overcomes me and I dream of your laughing eyes.