Feather in the Rain After the Opera by John Ahern Doyle

May 26, 2023
Poem title: Feather In the Rain After the Opera Poet name: John Ahern Doyle Poem: Heather whose true friends and family Called her Feather in her youth Has never been a spurned woman. She deserted men easily, careful that No one ever left her alone and pining. Only once had she rejected a man And regretted it. But he was older Then and it wasn’t meant to be. She loved him tons and told him so. He sighed. But she was right, so she was. The weight that lifted after she told him Was a relief, at first. Now fifty, in a plush velvet Seat in the fifth row, she listens to the Pained, piercing aria of Mimi in La Boheme, For the first time. So that is what it feels like. Outside and elsewhere the rain falls Heavily on narrow streets of bars and nightclubs Clotted with the yearning, angry, spurned and despairing. And Heather wishes she was there, Tears falling unseen in the rain. She wishes she was Feather again, Weightless and wracked but caring, Her wet hand reaching for a hard wall To support her, to stop her fall. So that is what it feels like. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © John Ahern Doyle John Ahern Doyle is a journalist and author, until end of 2022 a columnist and critic for The Globe and Mail. His memoir A Great Feast of Light: Growing up Irish in the Television Age (Doubleday Canada) appeared to acclaim in 2005, and his book about covering soccer, The World is a Ball: The joy, madness & meaning of soccer (Doubleday Canada) was a national bestseller in 2010. Currently he writes plays and poetry. He lives happily in Toronto.