In an Age of Elegance

When I was about eight years old I visited Windsor with my school to see the Queen

It was a tepid day and we had been waiting for quite a while

My thoughts wandered

I saw an elegant couple walking slowly along the Long Walk

Where shortly I hoped the Queen would pass

My teacher a Miss Finch was reading a Jane Austen novel in the shade of a tree

I looked at her and she smiled at me

We were having the same thoughts

I do not recollect seeing the Queen pass

But remember the couple

Who were not yet holding hands

The soldier ruffled my hair and the woman gave me a silver sixpence

How smart he was and I was already in love with his beloved

I still have the silver sixpence

But I no longer visit Windsor

 

Angel

Whilst waiting for a train

I watched as a falling angel

Created a pastel pink vapour trail

As she slipped from the declining moon

I moved into a nearby field

And opened my arms

In readiness to catch her

But she fell elsewhere

 

The Coaching Years

The roads in the village are quite smooth

Any memories of your rough passage have long been extinguished

New bridges have replaced the old

And the once wide fields and meadows are now enclosed

Only the rural ghosts remember you now

And they too are fading as time passes slowly by

 

2018