Wind Song by Stefanie Bennett

Forget me. Place me upon your unwanted list.
Tell your friends. Tell your family –
This stranger was no more than fiction.

Forget me. My words set your head aching.
Your body, a testimony of too much ruin.
Your young heart fit only for breaking.

Go now! Speak with authority and confidence
On how to escape from the twin selves.
Take love’s grey ashes and bury them deep.

Laugh again, even if the laughter’s shallow.
Buy back your spirit; it will be cold –
                                              But no matter.
Put on a warm front…

This is what you wanted! Your ghost has slipped
Within the keyboards of memory. There’s just
An odd chord you’ll hear occasionally:
                                                              Ignore it.

Forget me. Forget yourself. The shutters go on
Creaking. The new moon is ablaze. The night
Lawn is silver. Inside
                                        The room
                                        The lamp
                                        Is raining.

Stefanie Bennett has published several books of poetry, a novel & a libretto… tutored at The Institute of Modern Languages & worked with Arts Action for Peace. Of mixed ancestry [Irish/Italian/Paugussett-Shawnee] she was born in Queensland, Australia. Her latest poetry title with Walleah Press is “The Vanishing”.