View from the Lickey Hills

just before Spring
they walked on the Lickey Hills

the path beneath her feet
was frosted, hard
and he slowed his step
lest she fall
in an ungiving rut

an East wind seemed to've carved the air
so precicely to fit their lungs
there was no room for words

they tried to conserve the heat in gloveless hands
by gripping tight as if let go
they'd drop
shatter like clay pots

she knew his thoughts
"So long as we're together
what does money matter?" -
were dammed behind her fears
of leaving the job it had taken
years to find and not get sacked from
(there were so many reasons
day dreaming one, she recalled)
wishing she was brave enough to sleep
under the stars, sing for her meals
as he had done
but she was not and could not
though her heart sang, for him
"What is life without love?"
ten duvets could not make
her bed warm as he
and left her squashed
flat as the day ahead
that did not hold him...

"Oh, Look!" he cried
swooping in delight on a small fir twig
and she smiled too
"It's like fingers, a green hand!"

he wouldn't pocket it
incase it squashed
held it in his freeze numbed own
where it seemed to tingle
as they walked on

"It is so beautiful, here" she said
again, again
meaning "I love you!"
he was the only man she'd met
who'd have known this place
would make her happy
and he'd brought her here
because it made him happy too

they reached the view
he'd wanted to show her
from a clearing in the trees on a hill
water bright-set in cool fields
spread below
"It was all woods
far as you could see, once"
he frowned, lightened
"What's left's a Nature reserve now
they can't cut down any more"

they kissed, breathed each other's air
she felt so peaceful
resting her cheek on his chest
thinking how good it was
that nothing would ever change here
the children she could hear playing
might bring their children

he thought it was the cold
that made him feel numb, strange
first his hand, then his arm
then his trunk then other arm
his thighs and shins
feet seemed to stretch
search for shoes in the ground

she lifted her face for another kiss
and as her lips met his
was sure this was the touch of life
all feeling gathered in their mouths

she did not care
when her feet went numb
her legs, body, arms
then neck
she'd not have turned
her eyes from his then
if she could

twigs sprouted from their limbs
and hidden in the tips
like unwarapped presents
she'd beech leaves
and he'd fir needles

the breeze that moved him
moved her
when the sun shone
their shadows melted into one
as their futures were a lace
that could not be undone

Two children and an adult passed
"Look, Mum, the trees are kissing!"