Two more - the second one is, excitingly, the only one about a place I haven't been
CARDIFF
The train pulls out. He puts his headphones on
with eyes half-shut. He’s facing back the way;
The week’s been long, the sunlight’s almost gone,
His mind begins to darken with the day …
A twinge, a blink. Beside a bridge, a face
Unseen. Clothes striped on green. We’re all so tired.
The truth in any image hard to place.
A man at rest. At ease, a brain rewired.
The train draws on. A second look, he’d pass
A citizenship test. The chance is high
No harm was done, and now, the die is cast
In any case … the train glides slowly by.
The man has gone, his happy face unseen.
The train’s long gone. It’s fine, he’s clothed, he’s clean.
JERUSALEM (where I haven’t been)
The planes are sent. As called concerns collect,
I’m set free, I suppose, by destiny …
That’s generous. Let cowardice protect
Its name - a promised landing meant to be
Was hijacked by a sullen, narrow fear.
I never went, my friends, I never went.
I fled the bow, the chariot and the spear,
At once underprepared & overspent.
Christmas in London, safe and self-contained,
Kept from the wider world by warmth and guilt.
I never went, my friend, I’ve never deigned
To bore you with the trite defence I built.
The words would rot, a cold silence would hang.
Jerusalem, a song I never sang.
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