Summer Sings a Song of Suffering
By Peter Devonald
Watch the wicked world from afar, mocking sunshine
brighter, brighter still, rich spring cherry blossom,
confetti dreams, dazzling for others as they gently fall
into wedding whims, but we feel deep sickness within,
pit of the stomach, a growing growling ennui emptiness,
the yearning tragedy and sadness of it all, to be so apart
from the changing world, a messed up broken ghost,
watching from afar, long silhouettes pass by and go,
laughter and forgetting, a memory of how it once was,
before the change, before the harsh falling of our health,
a regret, a terrible regret, such deep sadness to recall,
being a part of something bigger, being at the centre
of the carousel, dancing to the hidden beats of spring,
the circus moves on so fast, singing of summer shame.
Peter Devonald is widely published in magazines/anthologies including London Grip, Door Is A Jar, Bluebird Word, Metachrosis, Forget-Me-Not Press, Vipers Tongue, Voidspace and the6ress. Winner of the Waltham Forest Poetry Prize 2022, Heart Of Heatons Poetry Awards 2023 & 2021, joint winner FofHCS Poetry 2023, commended by judges in the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine 2024, Forward Prize nomination 2023, two Best Of The Net nominations and shortlisted Saveas 2023 & Allingham 2023. He is poet in residence at Haus-a-rest. Won 50+ film awards, former senior judge/ mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated.
Instagram: @peterdevonald
Facebook: @pdevonald
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