The Widow

by Jude Brigley

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Annie James 1781- 1861

 

So, she must make do,

repair, carry her heart

in her own hands.

 

Buy her own ticket

and sit in her single seat,

swallow space:

 

eat up the dark.

wait her turn

hide the past,

 

while words freeze

on the window

melt and vaporise.

 

She must close the door,

wear disguise

and lose expectation

 

in the thicket of loss,

grieve for a past

that never existed

 

and weigh her hopes

on scales of silence

without eyes.

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​Jude Brigley is Welsh. She has been a teacher, an editor and a performance poet. She is now writing more for the page. She has been widely published in magazines, including 'Door=Jar', 'Otherwise Engaged' and 'Blue Nib'. She was shortlisted for the Molecules Unlimited Poetry Prize in 2025.