Bell, The

Hudson Review, The, Winter 2005 by Eager, Arlene

You've been gone for years

and I've left you alone.

But I came across the bell today.

In those weeks before the end

you were afraid we wouldn't

hear you call out at night.

I gave you that old brass school bell.

"Ring this if you need me, Dad."

You rang it every night.

Daylight made you brave, fooled you

into thinking you were ready.

Nighttime gave you terrors,

stronger than reason or prayer.

You rang the bell.

I'd come running, exhausted,

disheveled, wishing

one night, just one,

of unbroken sleep.

I wanted you to learn the difference

between emergency and loneliness.

You wanted me to see

they were the same.

To this day I have the dream

We are back in the sweet hell

of those last weeks.

I'm asleep upstairs and I

hear the bell and I wake

with a wild joy filling me.

I run to you.