ED AHERN - POEMS

Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He's had over a hundred thirty poems and stories published so far, and two books.

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​Outward Bound​

​I'm tethered to others
by lines I distain.
Wishing no one's help,
asking no one's advice,
seeking no one's closeness.
 
Time a rope's length away
is comfort and peace.
Sharing no one's delusions,
solving no one's problems
coddling no one's ego.
 
But when the cords unbind
in woods or mind,
Fearing no one's reachable,
worrying no one's aware,
panicking no one's helpful
 
I scurry toward contact
and grasp for connection.
Clutching for even a stranger's touch,
for even a harsh look,
for even a curse in recognition.
 
 

Keeping Company
​

​A woman I love
too much to hide from
has incurable cancer
flowing through her veins.
 
I offer what I can,
touch and presence,
while she begins to shed
what had seemed important
 
We talk of others loved
and of shared absurdities
so we can avoid broaching
in harsh certainty.
 
She cries sometimes
to an audience of one,
not because she’s dying,
but because of loss of living
 

The Shifters
​

​The creatures of the night
don’t lurk in woods and mansions.
They cave in cubicle and condo
until their sunset bat flights
to score drugs and hookups.
They shift not shape but being
into things denied by day.
Their eyes, rheumed at three o’clock 
bear witness to misshapings.
Their smiles are the crumpled wrappers
of what they’ve smoked or drunk.
These creatures of the night
skulk outside themselves and simper.
They’ve escaped into the darkness.
 
 

Fellow Traveler
​

​I crouch in you too placid to wonder,
Who carry me while wallowing,
and hiding from your fears.
You only half-live, but twist screaming
As I snick the blade
Through your ornamental flowers
 
I forbear you who grasp pain,
Aware of my presence
But nimbly moving without my weight.
I shun the sear of you who live too hot
Until with trembling hands
I enfold your sheaf and mourn.