The Road to Banff
by R. Eric Swanepoel
(First published in New Writing from the North, Issue 2, CAC
Publications, 19 Berryden Road, Aberdeen, Scotland)
Three times now, this week -
Along the road to Banff:
To a ceilidh (without you)
To a concert (without you)
Now to a reading (without you).
Outside the coach myriad greens compete,
Summer leaves scream: LIFE!
But summer leaves, indeed,
And autumn decay will set in.
In winter all will be dead, stark, bare.
Thin snow will etch the fields,
And the cloud-scudded skies will be as they were,
Just six months ago,
When you asked me
Along the road to Banff,
And we kissed.
