iv. Dancing in the Dark
Light shrinks into dank leylandii,
seeps down through thirsty grass:
dew settles on cowed verge,
tangle of laurel, euonymus:
hours now of hunting down words,
battered, bloodied, empty-handed,
confidence trickling away fast;
writing poems that no one reads
as Ovid (trans. Green) sighed
is like dancing in the dark,
the gesture no one sees you mime.
And tonight I’m stumbling after,
trying not to tread on toes (or feet)
trying - as ever - to keep up.
Time, maybe, to shut down, log off,
brew the tea, feed the circling dog
as a last gamble, chance Google
sends lines sliding back into place -
the first star cued above the Ghyll,
cloud-sketched moon on dusk-sharp sky,
Orion traced, tiptoeing into shape -
that unexpected hit of serendipity
reels down same name, new date,
a full-grown, fresh-joined regiment:
Royal Gloucester Hussars, 1915,
Palestine, Turkey, Gallipoli
(school Latin not required on trip)
another long exile in the east.
Page(s) 64
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