Neanderthal Hero

 

An inlet four foot wide

Was made inside

A cave,

Dug out from coal

Black granite,

Hard as hail

Stones against slate tile.

 

For days he carved

And Hacked, blush

Sweat it dripped

Between the cracks

And creatures

Of the floor:

Dull bats dislocated

And snakes woken ,

Sensing strangers.

 

Soft down the road

Came she, to see

What he had done

Where hewn, the

Niche that he

Had made-

No spade or

Trowel, bare handed

He’d shovelled

Out the nook

For her to use,

A perch rescue

From the snakes

Bats and cracks

With whom they shared the cave.

 

[July 31^st 2009:]