The Map

There's and Ordnance Survey map in front of me –
a large-scale map. This line here is our lane,
this dot our nice old house, and then you see
the village – over there, just off the main
old London Road, within the river bend.
The map is quite precise in every place
and shows you any detail, to no end –
even the landmarks are now difficult to trace.
The forest's dwindling fast, its former maze
quite simplified. Some paths now take the guise
of asphalt roads; some changed their course. These days
the village, having grown to twice its size,
seems overweight, the river's loop its stays –
there's nothing permanent except the skies.