Envoi by Jane Frank

I would have stayed
in that icy world
where forlorn gulls
circle and swoop,

and watery sunlight
splinters through clouds
edged in pewter,
but it’s better that

I disconnect,
pass through this
transit lounge
between two lives.

Way below
through velvet depths,
clustered lights
defined countries,

but my edges blur.
I’ll need to find
a new way of hoping,
of knowing.

The final days are
already obscured
by the hours
since embarking,

so why does the sun
make me wince like that?
and why do I feel most lost
when they say welcome home?

Jane Frank’s poems have appeared in Australian Poetry Journal, Writ, Uneven Floor, Yellow Chair Review, Antiphon, The Lake and elsewhere in Australia and the UK. Jane teaches a range of writing disciplines at Griffith University in both Brisbane and on the Gold Coast in south east Queensland.