To Hear Their Voices
    Harvey Shepard
I am sure they are a couple
who would not welcome
a stranger standing close.
For years she walked bent forward,
steps behind his quick pace, straining
to keep up, to hear his words
through waving hands.
Now middle-aged, he is changed:
He's lost weight, and his sneakers
are new. I think he's not talking as much,
though I don't see her talking more.
I do not know why I wonder
about their lives. I've never been
with them inside any building
or heard their voices. Twenty years in this small town
--and I can only imagine them in motion.



Harvey Shepard is a Professor of Physics at University of New Hampshire who has published poems in Poet Lore, Connecticut River Review, Roanoke Review, Psychotherapy Review and elsewhere. His book reviews appear regularly in The Philadelphia Inquirer.


 
 
 
 

In Posse: Potentially, might be ...