Katabasis

(London, the 21st of November, 2011)

Klop Klop
Metronome rhythm
My own enforced step
Accompanies
My escort’s silent gait
On this melting pavement
He clutches at the dog lead,
The throwing stick,
The slobbered ball
And somehow also has manages to cradle
Hatred’s ugly, deformed body close to his chest
Klop Klop
I am the soundtrack to his distancing
The sharp heel at his back
(And I know for a fact
He abhors the sound
Of my cladded footsteps
On waxed floorboards,
Early in the morning,
A rhythm as unsettling
As a heart beating too fast)
I focus on the assault of cracks and bumps on my sole
In each-others company
The school run
Is a round-trip
To the Underworld
The parting at the corner
His form
Gently peeling away -
Harsh sentence
Orpheus won’t look back
I shake off
The shadow of Hades
And head home