across country
fens flat
boots dark parchment
trees straight and vague
amid a massacre of uprooted siblings
open fields
tiny horses
shrubland soil dunes
tilled and tilted
wild hair under his russian hat
sudden sun
parched sand unrested
faded haystacks mouldy
pylon robots stalking
lonely houses
occasional trains
the rhythm of the crossing
horizontal lines on the map
the vertical interrupted
settlements not villages
the softness
where wings join the body
a sudden cathedral
up out of the water
silhouettes and hatless shadows
and she’s too young to be certain
and he’s too young to ask
the silence of the old observer
headphones and beer and tea cakes
and smartphones
the mechanics of avoidance
a long-forgotten scent
origin and memory unknown
far-off rain and sunbeams
emptiness
unending straight lanes
a raised expanse of water
discarded metal
half burned
but the fire went out long ago
vast empty steel barns
the middle of nowhere
is somewhere
stones and poles and tangled wire
the horizon slides
time is a destination
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