I long to be back with pam hiking the cornwall coast the waves far below curling then crashing but there’s no pam to hike with anymore I long to be back with jessie amid the bluebells in the dorset lanes laughing at what her mum had to say on everything “ketchup is an insult to the cook” and “men are a necessary nuisance” but there’s now no jessie to laugh with I long to be back on white horse hill listening to the larks looking down the apron where the lambs’ treble voices the ewes’ middle voices the great rams’ bass voices echo then walking the ridgeway to wayland’s smithy the ancient burial barrow I long to be back in the bodlien with chad and eva turning the great pages of ancient books later searching unkempt st cross cemetery nearby for kenneth graham’s grave among the willows but there’s no chad and eva anymore I just want to be back be back be back while there’s still a me to be back I’ll take you with me will you come

© 2010 Jacqueline Jackson