ENSEMBLE
the madrigal, volume iii.v
Stacey Lithgow
by peter burrows
originally published in The Interpreter's House, 2016
STACEY LITHGOW I LOVE YOU I’M SORRY,
adorning the motorway bridge daubed white
heralds romantic triumph or folly?
Who’d not be heartened by this lover’s plight?
The mild peril! The upside-down artistry!
Two broken hearts revealed to all below.
Days later, a second bridge pleadingly
inscribed in stencil, cries STACEY LITHGOW
I LOVE YOU! Online, shared status withdrawn;
unmoved to be part public property
cryptic posts of perseverance breathe scorn.
Now greyed out by higher authority.
Such public shows judged best left unwritten.
Yet heartaches remain, unfaded, hidden.
Peter Burrows is a Librarian who lives in the North West of England. His work has recently appeared in the Places of Poetry anthology and The Cotton Grass Appreciation Society and The Hedgehog Press Tree Poets Nature anthologies. His poem Tracey Lithgow was shortlisted for the Hedgehog Press 2019 Cupid’s Arrow Poetry Prize. https://peterburrowspoetry.wordpress.com/