Thoughts From a Conversation Near Catbells

There in the shadow of Catbells you caught me
with one of your stories about how
you had been sent to bed as a kid
because you wanted something more substantial
than sugar sandwiches for your supper.

And despite this frame of a man
who stood before me
and walked from coast to coast
on his own, at his leisure,
who ran in the evenings in the park
until he could sleep from exhaustion.

I couldn’t help but notice a different picture
of a child who had never really grown into his skin
who ran in lonely hours in circles round himself
in search perhaps of roads
that led all around the world
to a place where he could then approach himself
and see the space between
who he is and the person who wanted more
than sugar sandwiches for their supper.