Didn't We Have a Lovely Time?

 

To guess the welcome that awaits

you may retrace our steps,

find the terraced door, which we set out from

set in the pinched dimensions

of two-up, two-down with bath out back,

along the street with corner store

where once romance was near

as packets of crisps – your favourite flavour,

the kind they no longer make.

Always leaving later than planned

to explore some water’s edge,

by stream and tide settling on nicknames:

Sweet Pea and Stick Boy

assault the boundary of playgrounds,

walk beyond a pushchair’s limit

scamper past museum explanations,

try costumes on instead.

We spread out our picnic

go underground for the first time,

taking rides, feeding geese and goats,

making a day of it.

All outings have their ending,

each different yet the same:

most exit through the gift shop,

trying not to dilly-dally

over pocket money limits.                        

Our share of souvenirs

are the stories heading home;

for if you leave the way you came

you will return to light.

ii. 2019