Obsession
Every morning she lurks
outside Surgery—waiting
—hoping to see him.
Trussed in her raincoat
in all weathers. On visits,
he had barely noticed her.
After her mother died
the letters kept coming.
She is certain he loves her.
She starts leaving gifts,
cakes at reception,
hand knitted scarves.
At first he tells nobody,
not even his wife—
at his age he feels foolish.
It is now an open secret.
He dreads the smirks,
worse still, moist-eyed pity
from his young colleague,
her head tipped to one side.
He delays telling the police,
part of him feels sorry for her.
On his way home he buys flowers
like in the early days, for a wife
eager for his return. He doesn’t see
her hiding in the porch, until
a glint of metal catches the light.
.
Judith Wozniak spent her working life as a GP. She has just completed an MA in Writing Poetry at the Poetry School and Newcastle University
She has had poems published in; Reach Poetry, Poetry24, Ink Sweat &Tears, Sideways and the Hippocrates Prize Anthology 2019.
Abegail Morley 