Distances

This, surely, is merely a matter of distances.
Here is the orderly asphalt, white
lines to indicate prevalence, right of way,
straight hard roads that go grey with mist

even when summer is at its height. Somewhere
along the line the light changes, and the roads,
narrower, winding peacefully, are grey no longer.
White with dust they lie before you like a scrap

of song whose end, too log forgotten, hovers on
the hour, like a release from desire, like a wish
fulfilled. Here the snow thaws on the grass,
soft, soggy - tread the meadow and the mud will stick

to your soles. Too lonely the gull's cry, high
above the darkling hills, too clear a lack
of warm well-being. Further down the road
the light lies trembling on the fields, and down your back

the gooseflesh disappears. The late day's sun
falls far across the vineyards, empty now
that winter's in the offing, still, there is no sense
of sallow months' approach, of half a year

of drabness' hegemony. On the stream
the mild sun sparkles; there are tales about. Here
all the stories hold a barb, the happiest end
extracts deep sadness in the reading. Surely all

is too unlike this regulated world, this courtly dance
of cause and consequence, of taking on
one's full responsibility. Down there,
you may kick off your shoes and where the stars

all start, sit down barefooted, no more pressed
by gross demands upon your time, your mind;
cheap wine won't cause a headache and the air
is soft enough for comfort. On the verge

some old men telling tales of age and beauty, fresh
and cool upon the tongue, that hold no grief
too grave to bear. With starlight in your eyes
you follow them, enchanted, free... But then

you may well end up under bridges, sleeping
until cold dawn creeps in and shakes your bones
with memories of all you have forfeited - all
those grey securities, those eyes that were

perhaps less bright than those you see around,
but that won't laugh right through that tramp whose joy
at being free will fade until the cries
of gulls will make one long for cold, grey skies.