The Phone Call

He was sitting alone by the window

In hopes that the phone would ring,

Just as he’d sat there every day

Since she’d disappeared last Spring,

But snow now lay in the gutter,

Was glistening up in the trees,

And his thoughts would stray fom the words he’d pray,

‘Won’t you please come home, Louise!’

 

The phone lay stubbornly silent,

The snow untouched in the street,

There wasn’t a cart or a tyremark,

Nor even a sign of feet.

The sky was louring grey outside

As it was, the day she went,

He wished he knew, but hadn’t a clue

There had been no argument.

 

He’d thought perhaps she’d been taken,

Had struggled, against her will,

But there’d been no sign of a ransom,

The phone had stayed silent still.

He’d asked her friends in the neighborhood

What she’d said, could they recall?

But all of them said Louise was good,

That nothing stood out at all.

 

Her clothes still hung in the wardrobe,

And gave off their faint perfume,

As days went by he would sit and cry

Could barely go in the room,

The Police were as good as useless,

Inferred she’d taken a walk,

‘She’s probably got a new boyfriend,

If only your walls could talk.’

 

The only clue that he’d ever found

Was a script in a bag she’d left,

He found the word unpronounceable

But strange that the script was kept,

She wasn’t a one for keeping things

She said there were bins for that,

She’d thrown out even a friendship ring

And an old and beaten hat.

 

One day there were footsteps through the snow

Wound up at his own front door,

He raced to open the doorway up

But the footsteps stopped at the floor,

There wasn’t a sign they’d gone away,

There wasn’t a sign of retreat,

Whoever had come to his front door

Was still out there in the street.

 

He went back into the study then

And gazed through the sudden rain,

He never knew when the phone rang through

It would cause him so much pain.

A voice intoned, ‘If you’re on your own,

Sit down, are you Brian Drew?’

And then went on with its dismal song

‘I’ve a message to pass to you.’

 

‘This is the Somerhill Hospice, with

A body, ready to claim,

It’s up to you, but it’s Louise Drew

She left a note with your name.

She finally died this morning from

That tumour, found on her lung,

We didn’t know she was married, though,

That note was under her tongue.’

 

‘She didn’t want you to suffer, it

Was better she went away,

She wrote she hadn’t told anyone

But came in as Louise Grey.’

Brian’s face became bloodless at

The wet footsteps in the hall,

Then took in the silent nothingness,

And threw the phone at the wall.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Barbz]

It must be hard enough to deal with your loved one leaving you for no apparent reason, but worse yet to think that she was trying to protect you from the pain of watching her die from a dreaded disease. He agonized over her disappearance, actually touched by the familiar scent of her, observing her garments hanging in his view and the footsteps he obviously imagined. He waited for The Phone Call, but not the one that he was anticipating.......Very heart-wrenching, I felt the pain.....as a reader should.....barbz

[andrew mitchell]

So cleverly written, your usual standard of excellence in a somewhat more heart felt write than usual!

[Lena M. P.]

I don't believe in sparing ones feelings because it robs them of the last moments together. I would rather sit at my husbands bed, holding his hand then to not have anything to hold at all. Good poem.

[Marie]

This is so tragic, Louise should have let him know, rather than making him wait in silence, not knowing where she was. That was actually cruel, though she was acting in what she supposed were his best interests.

[Einstein Noodle]

i am deeply touched .. still feeling chills on my skin and lump in my throat ... with only a few moments of silent reflection i would weep .. well written sir! tragic loss, horrible anticipations, and the cold reality of being left out .. only the cold knock on the door and mysterious footprints to give some glimmer of hope ... well said says i! would not change nor rearrange anything .. :*(
E.