“Crime Scene” © Mike Absalom January 19th 2012

When I walked past your window last night
a blizzard of starlight fell upon me.
Although I am no forensic scientist,
I knew something had touched me
and afterwards in the cold light of the moon
I examined myself and saw that there remained
icy fingerprints all along my body, whispering silently.
I am no expert, but they sounded quite like yours.
That is when I first came to realise, after the fact,
That I must be a crime scene.

Is there a statute of limitations on crimes of indifference?

Don’t you talk to me about loneliness!
You are a seeded sphere of life tumbling on the breath of the solar wind.
But don’t talk to me about loneliness.
I am only a single seed blowing in that unimaginable void.

A half memory wavers on the path I am walking
like the moonlit tracks of a snail
on a forgotten veranda.
I shall be careful in future where I put my feet.
But don’t talk to me about loneliness.

There is, by the way, no statute of limitations.
Not for these crimes.