Crawl

(for melanie)

There was a reason, at the start
A reason for driving miles
To lie with you
In talc, and human warmth.
You got a blanket and put it over us
And we didn't need to talk
But listened to scuffling mice in the attic,
To the troubled burn of the A1
And we drizzled finger paths over each other

There is still a reason
A reason why you come from Italy
To stay with me
Now, we talk, and I get the blanket
Crack open the years between now and then
And sip a little at a time

But when I see you at the station
It's like the tide washing over my feet
Sucking the sand from underneath
We don't need to speak but we do.
Whatever was there
Is here, familiar as those fields
In the damp drizzle of Spring
Beyond the A1, floating
These bat-stroked nights
That slow to a crawl.