61

Big blue sky

Golden, Tate & Lyle, sunlight

The farmer, with his muck-spreader

Has been here before me

To the top of the hill

Long shadows, dry stone walls

A caravan in a cold cold field

Down the hill

Round the corner

To see that long stretch of water

To the maker of puddings and cakes

Stones and walls and geometric columns

Strolls past fire pits with frozen fingers

On snow and ice, beside expectant geese

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60

One day, by the water, by the woods

Trying hard not to think

Of being beside the sea, on the beach

To drink in the nothing of nothingness

Silent in these silent times

Of no one here to share the day, or night

It is a chosen celebration, a rehearsal of sorts

Force beyond the force

Which settles, without thought, for the status quo

So with pen and pencil, and a closed

Or ever so slightly open mind

Let the weather join in and the love be with you

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58

Three vestiges of sleep

To steep, half-dreaming, half-waking

Shaking round the youth I keep

Half-forgetting, half-forsaking

All alone and all together

Oft misused best yes forever

Now's the time, now or never

To trace the steps, reboot the leather

Time is time and time is ticking

Reset the alarm, rework the knitting

Were we standing or were we sitting

At the party in the midst of middling

Another neat volume, of plain pages

Another fresh mind, one that still rages

All the while he seeks out the sages

Living out the teenage ages

That we might reach who knows where

To find ourselves without a care

Live a life to stop and stare

Will he doubt or will he dare

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57

In the library I was in the park

In the park I was on the beach

On the beach I was in the bookshop

In the bookshop I was having dinner

Having dinner I was making love

Making love I was settling the bill

Settling the bill I was thinking of yesterday

Yesterday I was thinking of tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be fighting the fire once more

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56

I have a desire to go

Someplace to be

Maybe to bathe in nostalgia

Or glow for the first time

In the immediacy of flirtation

I have many places in mind

But what of those

Of which I don't yet know

How should the search begin

What sparkle should my eye wear

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