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Paradise lost?

It always seems magic:
That gap in the hedge
Where the bridleway cuts through
To the next field.

The light shimmers as leaves fidget,
Softening the dark borders
To that short tunnel.
But we turn left

And up the stoney lane
Where life is the same
And Betty sicks up the grass
That she just had to eat.

Yet in my minds' eye remains
The loss: a glimpse of paradise.

18 October 2018

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9 November 2014

A crowd assembles in twos and threes In the cold damp air and chilly sun Outside All Saints: some clutching Memories and some wreaths. The children watch as Nick reshuffles The timings for the Last Post: To finish at eleven on the dot So we'll be silent in remembrance. Yet today either the list of names Is longer or the old soldier reads Too slowly: so the clock tower bell Loudly interrupts the bugle's lament.

Gone

Gone, Archie lies still, facing away from the door, his toes to the wall, his beautiful head resting, the tip of his tongue just visible, his eyes staring forward, four feet from where I had last seen him alive, frozen in time. O Archie, I held you, stroked you, hoped you would revive. O Archie, gone. Gone your optimism. Gone your joy in life. Gone your scrapping, your stick chasing, your ball shredding, your compost bin charge, the walk to the Unicorn, your wait by the local store, your fart from beneath the dining table. Gone.

A hollow embrace

Her eyes flit across the rafters, Count motes in a sunbeam, Reluctant to engage with my gaze; Obscuring her discomfort. Her body is heavy yet hollow. It does not yield to my touch But remains still, almost breathless; As she hides close by me.