2 poems in Quadrant

Two of Andrew’s poems — “Recollections of Dread and Deliverance” and “Comfort” — have been published in the December 2016 issue of Quadrant. “Recollections“, written for Andrew’s wife, Susan, is reprinted below:

Recollections of Dread and Deliverance

Dearest, when you haemorrhage
(I am of a sudden with hurt and horror
recalling it these near-three decades on),

when back in the ward after the birthing
the nurse drew down from your white face
the bedcover to uncover that swamp

of blood from your wounded womb,
that crimson saturation of nightdress
and sheet, I plunged to pleas and please!

and when they wheeled you on the trolley
away to the theatre, not now for new life
but for your life, I feared you’d gone for good

but by the doctor’s good hand the Hand
of God touched you, staunched you, spared you
for me and our newborn daughter and all

the other loved ones who loved you
as I loved you and love you still with kisses
and wide wishes and everlasting longings.

            © Andrew Lansdown