1
Middens and palaces,
satchel and tramcar:
these are the oddities
that I remember
from books and
settlements shifted aside.
2
The mud of winter and a
last fire’s umber;
raw journey from where a
people had died
through gullies I went
till a wall arose.
3
And because I connived
and because I defied
I was given high Roman
office and clothes,
which I wear now as if
mine for ever.
4
Yet when I go back
through houses in rows
to a shelter where
candles huddle together
I can find a low family
inured to time:
5
and I am a boy again,
reckless and clever,
a creature snug in my own
paradigm,
with Book of Wonders, a
jersey and jam jar.
