Girl in the lounge

She was warm beneath
the picture on the wall.
There was a dreamy halo about her;
her eyes set on distant mode.
Did sadness spoil the shape
of her delicate lips?
Or was there a wistful something
that suggested a secretly shared joy?

Hidden as she was behind the
laughter and the clinking of glasses,
the piano sounded, but not for her.
She was tuned to some inner violin sonata
And then she was gone;
the space empty under the picture,
leaving an indefinable longing behind.

Vermont (2000): a restaurant after sunset
(one of my ‘Vermont poems)’

Joseph ‘Jopi’ Hart