Desmond Graham
An Epilogue
So I rolled back
the stone,
or it rolled back
out of my hands,
or the stone
simply cracked,
no angel flew out,
no clothes lay
left in a heap,
simply my heart
patched and cracked,
wounded perhaps
and not still,
but headlong
like Hercules
on an old bike,
and everything
was shown there
as in a mirror,
I was loath to look
but hedges rushed past,
side roads
and turnings,
it seemed to be downhill
all the way,
then I parked
by an old tree,
hawthorn or hazel,
it was hard to tell,
and the back wheel
still ticked
a few moments
slowing everything down,
and I lay down
beside you
on a tartan blanket,
and what happened next
everyone can find out
for themselves,
but the ants
kept their distance,
spiders did target practice
silently
on their webs,
a single heron
might have lowered
its head,
I know
the field vole
only rustled the leaves
once we were finished,
just to remind us,
we were awake,
it was afternoon,
and quite normal.
Page(s) 88-89
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