You looked out the window
Just for a moment
You saw some old hills...
Sunshadow on dry brittle brown
dark scrub below
ridge clear against winter-blue sky -
Drift away...

Sun warm, you're sweating up a spur
boots solid, real, on mud and roots
breath comes hard
you never felt so stuffed before.
Look up - no, don't look ahead
it's a steep one...
voices; they're sitting
dappled, tired, clustered beneath
some tall beech -
you join them
no-one speaks
for a moment only...
...drift away...

You're back
(there was no reality)
in a sunless room; lino and glass -
they're kind, but you need to be there
in the cool, dappled shade.

Lucy