View

 
He wrote a picture postcard to me;
A fishing boat on the edge of Lough Currane
Close to his home.

Beside the window where he writes his news
The view of fuchsia beside a stone-wall,
Flecked with the sun.

His side of the glass; depression, for years
Dependent on medications; then the
Further frustration;

As invasion of cancer then threatened
A future made all the more precious;
Delivered in the post,

Passing on this message; ‘I knew you’d enjoy
The picture of the lake; thought it would do
You the power of good;

Though; my dear; I know you don’t need it
Pray for me, and write soon,” he pleaded.

View is © Helen Harrison

Helen Harrison was raised on the Wirral, seven miles from Liverpool, by Irish parents, and has lived most of her adult life in the border countryside of Co Monaghan, Ireland where she is married with a grown-up daughter. During 2014 she was awarded a bursary from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to study poetry for a week at The Poets House, Donegal.

Her poems have been published in A New Ulster, North West Words and The Bray Journal. Her first collection of poetry The Last Fire was published during 2015 by Lapwing. Some of her poetry can be found at poetry4on.blogspot.com

The Last Fire and other poems by Helen Harrison