There is no message to post home,
I do not wish you here.

Sea and sky framed in snow and stone.
No words scribbled on the margins,
I’m tired of explaining, translating every emotion.

Unprotected veins of ice,
stalactites drip, echo, drip,
dissolving cliffs to sand, walls to rubble.

I collapse into the harbour’s cold shock,
a slow oaring of my limbs. Sinking.

I swallow salt until my mouth dries,
shutting out what needs to be said.

Gerry Stewart is a poet, creative writing tutor and editor based in Finland. Her poetry collection Post-Holiday Blues was published by Flambard Press, UK. Totems is to be published by Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2022. Her writing blog can be found at http://thistlewren.blogspot.fi/ and @grimalkingerry on Twitter.