what happened to - Poetry by Bill Hannan

what happened to

now is the season when magpies swoop

the experts say they remember our faces

so I guess I must be innocent

of whatever it is that irks them

they don’t swoop me

but they target Jack

who’s walking beside me

they must be he says

the conscience of the bush

as we stroll down the track he asks

what happened to Bernard

I haven’t seen him since he left us

to go into that monastery

was it Benedictine or Trappist

I know it was what they call enclosed

which is why we never saw him again

didn’t Tess go into an enclosed nunnery

somewhere in England or Ireland

she did but she came out

I had dinner with her once

did she talk about why she did it

she just remembers she wanted to

and can’t now work out why

but Bernard has stuck with it

have you ever speculated why

he left the world he enjoyed so much

for one we can’t imagine

year after year of prayer work and silence

yet we too believed all that once

Jack ducks as the magpie strikes