The Itch Unexpected

The man arrived at the start of the day

Sat at his desk and worked hours away

He took no morning tea nor ate any food

And he never played music to brighten the mood

He arrived each morning and sat there at work

He never called sick and never felt any hurt

He wove every day with threads from a sack

That he arrived with each morning over his back

He spun threads into patterns with focused intent
Reaching into his bag until his materials were spent 

Then in the darkness he left for the night

Looking up to the sky and the absence of light

For years he had worked and said not a word

He never hummer or sighed and nothing was heard

He wove and he spun and he created the pattern

Letting time pass as always had happened

For years he worked and knew nothing more

Until one day his thumb twitched and became briefly sore

He dropped a thread for the first time ever

And he stopped abruptly, taking no pleasure

One thread there lay as long as his chin

There on the floor curved like a grin

One thread he dropped and let fall away

One thread unwoven for the first time today

He reached down and lifted the thread to his face

Breathing out softly as it wafted in space

"Hmmm" he sighed softly hearing the sound

"Hmmm" he said staring at the thread he had found

He held between fingers and looked at his work

Then tucked the loose thread in the cuff of his shirt

The next day he worked hard as he ever could

Watching as each thread went where it should

He wove and he focused and toiled all the day

He neither sighed nor spoke and had nothing to say

He worked until sunset then noticed one thing

The thread now circled his finger as a ring

He looked at his finger and the thread tied right there

Sighed and yawned and scratched at his hair

He looked at his finger where the thread was wound twice

And oddly he found that he thought it looked nice

It occurred to him the thread looked yet longer

And thicker and darker and very much stronger

The next day the thread had looped round his wrist

And when he saw unthinking he gave it a kiss

He sat at his work weaving the threads from his sack

But stopped now and then to stretch out his back

The thread it hung loose until he stood up at last

And he saw something remarkable had passed

The thread was now something quite else

The thread was no thread but now was a self

A baby, a newborn, sleeping and warm

A baby, a child, a sapling, a fawn

“Well now’ he said for the first time in life

Then lifted the child and walked into the night

Each day from then on he arrived with the child

And as he worked through the day often he smiled

He sat at his chair and wove with attention

But he now sung songs and found stories to mention

He warmed milk and filled bottles and changed nappies as well

And each duty bought joy - except for the smell!

The baby grew bigger and started to grin

Releasing its personality from somewhere within

The man realised one day the babe had no name

And he frowned and he blinked and then heard the rain

He reached out one hand and touched the babes cheek

And he let his ancient cracked voice slowly speak

“Raindrop” he whispered and the baby fast blinked

Accepting the name like a contract fresh inked

“Raindrop, my daughter” he said and stopped at his task

Lifting his daughter to kiss her at last

“Raindrop” he said and the baby cried out

“Raindrop” he said this time with a shout

Raindrop grew fast and soon learnt to walk

She stumbled and giggled and started to talk

She stretched into her body and flexed at her toes

She chewed at apples and picked at her nose

Raindrop would sit drawing or sleeping or watch

As her father wove fabric with no thread ever dropped

Then one evening at the end of the day

As her father stood and they both walked away

Raindrop turned to her father as they looked to the night

And asked him a question as the moon shone full bright

“Where do you go while I’m sleeping in bed?”

And her father stopped walking and scratched at his head

He looked back at the shed when he worked every day

Looked into the distance with no words to say

He looked down the old path to the house where she slept

He looked into the night not knowing what’s next

He looked to his daughter and his heart filled with hope

And he lifted her to him and still never spoke

But that night he took her with him far from their home

That night he went walking this time not alone

That night he had company as he filled up his bag

And though she was frightened she also was glad

She watched what he did with silent eyes

Never speaking or sighing or showing surprise

The first place he walked her was an old house by a lake

Where an elderly couple sat eating this year’s birthday cake

The old man was gumming sponge into submission

While his wife sat knitting in a familiar position

The old man stopped and frowned and reached to his neck

Scratching at an itch he did not expect

Then he coughed and slumped forwards and his wife cried out

And Raindrop watched her father soft move about

The old man was dead that she could tell

As the old lady started sobbing like the clang of a bell

Raindrop watched as her father reached for the man now dead

Stroked at his neck and drew back a thread

Then they walked on to a road in the city

Where a girl walked and talked so dazzlingly pretty

She was watching her phone and striding along

Mouthing the words to a buoyant pop song

When she stepped in the road and reached to her neck

Scratching an itch she did not expect

Again Raindrop watched her father stride in

To where the girl lay waiting for her end to begin

He reached to her neck and pulled back the thread

As Raindrop watched the girl, all words unsaid

The car that had hit her sat silent and still

The driver inside it looking shell shocked and ill

Then to a plane sat keen to depart

Raindrop watched her father watch for the start

There were hundreds of passengers sat all in rows

All in their happiness and holiday clothes

The engines purred and then built to a roar

And the plane hurtled the runway determined and sure

And as it arose every passenger there

Reached up to their neck to an itch suddenly there

They waved fingers on skin as the plane suddenly exploded

And their lives in one beat were swift eroded

Raindrop floating watched as her father

Gathered the threads with his bag growing larger

The night was long and speckled with death

Raindrops father there for every last breath

He stood silent witness and reached for the thread

As every new person became newly dead

Raindrop walked with him, this man, her Dad

And felt unchecked love as he carried his bag

Then the sun came and they came back to the shed

Both awake and alive and in no need of bed

The bag was bulging with the threads now to weave

And Raindrop handed them one by one with such speed

They worked together and smiled and shared

Knowing and showing how much that they cared

That night they went walking with the bag once again

Watching and witnessing love and such pain

Grandparents died and her father collected

Each thread that curled from the itch unexpected

From adults and children and all who died

Her father caught the thread that sprang from inside

One night in a hospital ward they both awaited

A heart torn mother as she sadly dilated

Raindrop stopped her father as he walked to the bed

Holding his hand and shaking her head

Raindrop walked in and stepped to the child

Lifelessly laying all moments un-smiled

Raindrop reached out and plucked at the thread

Turned to the mother and silently said

“I’m sorry this happened truly I am

But I’m here with my father and we understand”

And the mother she wept and the nurses stood by

And Raindrop and her father walked to the sky

For years they walked as Raindrop grew older

Gathering the threads from plumbers and nurses and soldiers

Gathering threads from pilots and surfers and sons

From lives long lived and lives just begun

For years they gathered and wove daily together

Believing that this would be this way yet forever

Then one night her father watched a building slow burn

As more lives yet to death took their final turn

And as he stepped forward his step caught a hitch

As he felt a sudden strange, and unexpected, itch

And he turned to Raindrop and looked at her there

This girl that his life had found room to share

“Is it my turn?" he asked and Raindrop reached a hand

Knowing he knew but could not understand

Raindrop stepped in and wrapped her arms at his neck

Where his skin tickled from the itch he did not expect

“I love you,” she whispered as her father died in her arms

Safe and beloved and kept far from harm

“My daughter” he sighed, the final breath in his chest

Feeling relief from the itch that no one expects

Raindrop found his thread and held it to her heart

Crying in moonlight as time pulled them apart

Then slowly she went with all the threads gathered

And she sat at the loom and worked at what mattered

That night the sun set and her weaving was done

She stepped to the darkness in the wake of the sun

And before she went walking out into the night

She looked to the sky and the absence of light

And she pulled out the weaving and threw it on high

Where it swiftly unfurled and became the night sky

Every memory and moment from every thread

Every promise and betrayal from every word said

Every passion and parent and dream ever dreamt

Every moment and opportunity, wasted or spent

It all spread far in beauty and became the night sky

Added to daily as time passed swift by

And that night as Raindrop threw out the stars

A brighter one shone in distance afar

A shimmering diamond woven that day

Woven with everything there was no time to say

A sparkling perfection of light and of love

Raindrop looked to her father as he sparkled above

And that night as she walked and gathered the dead

She stopped by the grieving and softly she said

“They are not gone, look to the sky every night

Their love shines there still in every stars light”

She gathered and witnessed and returned to her home

Working each day, working alone

Raindrop works with her fingers so swift

And each thread she weaves is a thread she has kissed

She works knowing one day a thread will slip free

Fall to the floor and slow come to be

She knows as she weaves the threads she’s collected

That one day she’ll to feel the itch unexpected

The Man in the Ground

Theresa Malone’s very first word was NO

Said with a rage she would frequently show

18 months old she’d scowl from her seat

Slamming her hand down on food she won't eat

Theresa Malone was a furnace of rage

And this is the story of how all of that changed

In school age 6 Theresa caused up roar

When Mr.Cage and Theresa in class went to war

Theresa disliked that he smelt of stale smoke

So when he would talk she’d clutch at her throat

Mr.Cage would then keep her in during break

So Theresa watched her friends playing out by the gate

Mr Cage in class lost his temper again

As Theresa declared his nose looked like a plane

He slammed down his pens and made several kids cry

As Theresa pointed out a jet passing by

Theresa he shouted, you will be quiet as a mouse

Mr Cage, she screamed I’m going to burn down your house

This was the way for the angry young girl

Who saw red fringes lining the edge of her world

Door slams, detonations and temper eruptions

Inside or outside she was a constant disruption

But at home Theresa was silent and scared

Her father was the ogre who ruled coldly there

Theresa’s mother died when Theresa was 7

The police softly said she’d gone up to heaven

They tried to hide the unpleasant truth

Theresa’s mother another case of “domestic abuse”

But Theresa knew as her father was taken away

That she’d lost both her parents in one bitter day

Her father was tried and then sentenced to jail

His serious stern temper turning childishly pale

And Theresa was sent to an aunt out of town

Where it was hoped she would thrive and maybe calm down

Her aunt fed her apples and plenty of cake

But Theresa still shouted and threw food from her plate

For months her aunt tried every tactic she knew

But nothing would work or ever get through

And when Theresa smashed a window with an old china plate

Her aunt felt taking her in may be a mistake

Theresa, my love, I can’t cope with all this

And she dropped to her knees and hoped for a kiss

Theresa could see the pain that she’d created

But the anger in her heart could not be abated

And she stormed from her aunt there on her knees

Out to the garden and the flowers and bees

And she sat at the end over looking the fields

Trying to find the world she’d somehow concealed

She sat hunched with her knees to her chest

When she first saw the man lying at rest

He was just a mound of dirt and leaves and grass

But seeing him there made her gasp and then laugh

For though he was just dirt, grass and leaves

She could see his head and his arms and his knees

A man lying there with his arms behind his head

A man lying peaceful as though comfy in bed

The man in the ground Theresa saw laying there

The man in the ground with flowers for hair

He was just soil nothing more, just mound on the lawn

But Theresa felt certain a friendship had born

I’m angry she hissed and then started to cry

I’m angry so often and I just don’t know why

She wept by the man and the man lay un-moving

But him lying and listening was simple and soothing

So Theresa she wept and spoke of her mum and her dad

And tranquillity swift flowed and submerged all the bad

She returned inside and found her aunt in her bed

Theresa opened the door and stood and soft said

I’m sorry Aunt Josie, I’ll be better I hope

And Aunt Josie held her so perfectly tight, warm and  close

They went to the kitchen and made pastry together

And Aunt Josie had hopes that things may get better

From then Theresa would go to the garden each day

She’d fret and she’d speak her bad thoughts away

She’d let them all spill to the man in the ground

Who took them to the fires that lay deep and down

She’d go inside calmer, heart light and temper cool

And Josie would cook while they talked about school

A storm tore the night when Theresa was 9

It ripped branches from trees and laundry from lines

It shattered windows in town and broke the church spire

And it tore down reception from telegraph wires

Aunt Josie came to Theresa’s as the sky turned deep red

But found that Theresa was not in her bed

She tore through the house calling her name

Afraid of burglars, kidnappers and menace unnamed

She saw the back door was open to the night

And snatched at a torch to throw a weak light

She raced down the path towards the fields and the farm

Praying her niece was please safe from harm

She found Theresa sat with an umbrella held tight

Singing to the garden in the dark of the night

Josie stood motionless and Theresa stroked the grass

As the lightning shock crackled and thunder crashed past

I’ll keep you dry Theresa said to the ground

And laughed as the lightning flashed all around

What were you doing? Josie asked her within

As the paper quick crackled so the flames could begin

The man in the ground was washing away

Theresa replied, and that’s all she would say

So Josie made cocoa and they sat there together

The flames flickering high slow calming the weather

Theresa held her anger within now as she grew

The man in the ground the only one who now knew

She would hold her fists as she was taunted in class

About her mother and father and violence of the past

She would come home with tears and rush to the yard

Where she knew she could say all that was hard

Christmas Day, birthday or Halloween night

Theresa told the man everything that wasn’t right

Josie would watch and accept as a fact

That Theresa felt better after she’d been and done that

Theresa even wrote a letter when she was turning 13

To Mr Cage apologising for being so childishly mean

When Theresa was 16 Josie had news

That hurt like a bee sting on top of a bruise

Her father was being released in a weeks time

The courts deciding he’d been punished fow for his crime

He wanted to see her but it was entirley her choice

Did she want to see him or listen to his voice?

Theresa looked at her Aunt and blinked her tears back

As the world spun in backward and the sky turned to black

I need to speak to my friend was Theresa’s reply

And she went to the garden and sat under the sky

She told the man in the ground her father was coming

Then sat rocking quietly as the bees started humming

Theresa dug memories from deep in her mind

That there were few remaining she was saddened to find

Her mother crying and screaming No More

As her father ripped his rage and kicked at the floor

Her mother un-moving as he smashed at the walls

And Theresa age 6 and her emergency call

Now 10 years later he walked from his cell

Started walking slow towards her with feelings to tell

He wanted his daughter, he wanted to meet

Wanted to build a bridge to her heart under his feet

The man in the ground just lay under the sun

And Theresa told her aunt that her father could come

And then there he was with his eyes to the path

At her front door and Theresa wanted to laugh

Here was the man who’d watched her life begin

Asking and crying for her to let him come in

I’m so sorry he said and wrung hard at his hands

Please can I try to make you understand?

Theresa stood alone but felt something shift

Heard soil break apart and grass and dirt lift

Behind her she knew the man was stood there

One hand on her shoulder to show that he cared

The man in the ground had her back now she knew

So she said to her father what she felt was true

Dad, she said and he started to weep

As for the first time years he heard her voice speak

I forgive you she said and gave him one kiss

But that’s all I have, that’s all that there is

She shut the door and saw him through the glass

As he slow retreated back into her past

The man in the ground was laying at peace

But she saw dirt on the carpet down by her feet

The man in the ground lay under the sky

With daisies growing close to his left eye

Theresa, the girl, who was no longer a child

Saw wind move the grass so it appeared that he smiled

Theresa went to study and Aunt Josie cried

As her heart filled with hope and then filled with pride

Theresa studied hard and came home each term

And laughed and related all that she’d learnt

Then she’d go to the garden and give to the man

Small samples of soil she’d saved in a can

Dirt from her university and sand from the shore

Dirt from a pub that she liked and then more

Spoonfuls of soil from places she’d been

She scattered on the man and the grass wet and green

And the man lay at rest with his arms behind his head

Just like a man lazing on Sunday in bed

Theresa finished university and found her feet keen

To go seeking vistas and sights yet unseen

She explained to Aunt Josie that it was time to travel

To see what was out there and the future unravel

She flew to Morocco and Vietnam and Laos

Sending back postcards of where she was now

She travelled through Europe and Russia as well

Mailing back promises of stories to tell

She lived there in London and Hamburg and Spain

And criss-crossed the continent cheaply by train

She came back before Christmas in her 23^rd year

And Aunt Josie opened the door with excitement and cheer

They talked and they sipped as Theresa told tales

Of eating bugs, horse meat, intestines and snails

She showed Josie a tattoo she’d gotten in Mumbai

The date her mum was born and the date that she’d died

And then she told Aunt Josie the thing she had to say

Aunt Josie, I don’t know if you know this….I’m gay

Aunt Josie smiled and said that she knew

But I didn’t want to say anything, it was all up to you

Josie sat happy and so very proud of this girl

Who’d climbed such a mountain to be here in this world

Theresa the girl with the wild furious rages

Was now a young woman writing her pages

Theresa then sat with the man in the ground

Told him of her journeys to the humming bee sound

She pulled a tobacco tin from out of her clothes

Opened it and inhaled happily through her nose

This is the world, I’ve bought it to you

A spoonful of soil from every country she’d been through

Mud from Siem Reap near Ankor Watt

Soil from Italy where she’d briefly stopped

A scoop of America and a dash of southern Spain

A pinch of Germany near where she caught a train

A little bit of London and a wee dash of Wales

And a wet piece of Scotland dug up in a gale

Sand from the Red Centre near Uluru

All safely transported and bought back for you

A little of Russia and a touch of Nepal

She kissed each offering and watched the dirt fall

And this, she told him is from the seas I have seen

The oceans and rivers of the places I’ve been

The man in the ground lay with arms behind his head

As any man who was lazing on Sunday in bed

The dirt scattered softly and water trickled slow

Little pieces of the places that he could not go

Then Theresa lay with him and she let herself doze

And woke with a flower on top of her clothes

Aunt Josie was helping at a sausage sizzle one day

When the end of her life swift had its way

A stroke seized her mind and sent her to sleep

And she woke uncertain and unable to speak

Theresa rushed to her bed and held her good hand

Telling Josie she loved her hoping she’d understand

Aunt Josie smiled weakly and blinked one tired eye

Amazed that time had so swift passed her by

Theresa hugged her and asked her please just to stay

And in the warmth of that moment Josie passed away

Theresa wept then in that bright hospital room

Feeling her time with Aunt Josie had gone far to soon

One week later with her aunts’ final remains

Theresa sat in the garden with the man once again

This is my Aunty; she’s left the house to me,

This is where my heart is and where I will be

And she scattered the ashes right next to the man

Hoping he would keep Josie safe and warm in his hands

Theresa found love in buying vintage clothes

As she sneezed from the dust that tickled her nose

A tissue was handed from a woman named Jane

Who fell onto her heart like the softest of rain

Theresa and Jane soon shared life together

And though they couldn’t marry they promised forever

They laughed, worked, adopted and grew

Went on marches for injustice and equality too

They sat sipping wine on calm Sunday nights

While the kids they’d given homes lay lit by nightlights

Theresa lived a life shared with tears and with laughs

And visits down the garden to the man in the grass

Jane and Theresa, Theresa and Jane

Became grandparents three times and then once again

The fourth was a frowning girl named Collette

Who was bitterly angry and savagely direct

Her first word was No and the next Go Away

Theresa told the man laughing one cool winters day

She was older now with her hair wispy thin

But she had the same sparkle and the same happy grin

She laughed with the man at Collette’s latest wrath

Throwing mud at the clothes that had all just been washed

She did it because she was wearing odd socks

Pelted the sheets with mud and dirty old rocks

And as she laughed with the man Theresa felt strange

Like something in her chest had fast rearranged

Oh she said as her breathing grew still

And she sat back in her chair before she could spill

She looked back at the house where Jane gently waved

Where grandchildren were laughing at the games that they played

Am I dying? she asked of the man in the ground

But her words were impossible to bring into a sound

Her eyesight grew darker as the bees hummed close by

And Jane saw Theresa sleep instead of seeing her die

It was half hour later when Jane bought her a wine

That she found our Theresa had run out of time

But in that hour something had quietly stirred

And something impossible impossibly occurred

Theresa was sat in her chair calm at peace

Looking rested and loved not cold and deceased

In reds, blues and yellows laid with such care

Hundreds of flowers had been woven into her hair

Jane sought permission and it was allowed

To inter Theresa right there in the ground

Beside the man only Theresa could see

Under the warmth of the sun and the hum of the bee

Jane laid her to rest with joy at their life

My beloved, my best friend, my lover and wife

Then a band played old love songs and cakes were devoured

The sun sparkled through crystals and rainbows were flowered

Jane wept long and often but she laughed much as well

And when anyone asked she had stories to tell

Her children and grand children held her love dear

That even now widowed Jane was glad to be here

And a week later Collette was visiting filled with ire

Her parents tugging their hair at the girl there on fire

Collette knocked over the table and shouted out NO

And stormed outside where her Grandmother would go

Collette sat near where Gran T had been lain

And shouted in frustration and fury again

Collette was 5 and possessed of such aggression

That instead of soft toys rage was her possession

But there in the garden Collette found she could see

Her grandmother, Aunt Josie - and he

A man lying resting with his arms under his head

Just like a man lazing on Sunday in bed

Her grandmother Theresa placed one hand to her lips

Then winked at Collette and blew her a kiss

The man smiled broadly and Collette felt safe from harm

And knew that speaking would help her feel calm

So she stumbled and uttered her words in a rush

As Theresa nodded and then said to her Hush

Any time you are raging or torn up inside

Come visit us here with nothing to hide

Send your fury down into the lava below

Let it warm up the world and help the trees grow

We are here my love, any time you need speak

At the end of the garden, just come here and seek

And at the end of the garden outside of the home

Where Jane still lives warmly, well loved but alone

Theresa, Aunt Josie and the Man in the Ground

Hear the world ageing and every soft sound

Collette comes to them often and her rage slips away

And they lay there together at peace at the ebb of the day