A sunny evening drying
plates at the kitchen window.

I see her rambling
from the shed to the door.

Little lives
moving inside her.

I will watch her. Time her
offspring
and make them disappear.

Soon dismissed.
Soon quenched
like a temporary thirst.

But by which one of us first?

Patrick Mc Loughlin is an English Language Teacher in Ireland and dabbles in writing. He also dabbles in painting and music and someday hopes to do more than dabble. He lives in the west of Ireland where it’s hard to concentrate.