On the shelf above the crackling fire, <br />the day’s work over, shadows swaying and flickering <br />across the room, in the firelight’s glow; <br />here is love abiding <br /> <br />On the shelf above the crackling fire <br />a few slim books, some of them poetry, some of them signed; <br />open them and the world spills out <br />tumbles laughing and crying, shouting <br />like children home from school with stories; <br />like grandparents reminiscing over photos with a smile; <br />like the last of the night’s pillow talk <br />one already eyes closed, the other treasuring thought <br /> <br />On the shelf above the crackling fire <br />two bookends hold the books in place <br />pressing lightly against each other <br />as two lovers walking through a door, a gate, from here to there <br />one bookend’s image we know well <br />familiar to us from the books <br /> <br />How little we know, of that other bookend <br />without which, without whom, <br />there might not be these books, lightly pressing <br />on the shelf above love’s glow<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-poet-s-significant-other-for-mary-and-todd/
