" . . . some corner of a foreign field . . ." - RB

As I walked out one midsummer evening
away from the city and up on the Downs,
the sky was still blue and the sun still shining
and the warm air full of nature's sounds
of birds and bloody mosquitos whining.

Then a different sound from a nearby meadow !
A group of people were sprawled on the grass,
young adults playing guitar and fiddle
and one even singing and shuffling a dance
while children played Pig in the Middle.

An idyllic scene that I carried with me,
buoyed by the vision of family pleasure,
all through the work of the following week
till again I had time and weather and leisure
to hopefully take another peek.

Who knows ? Perhaps it wasn't those people
that left their litter there revealed.
Perhaps there had been some other string band
to spoil that corner of a non-foreign field
that is unfortunately England.

Just wait a little longer, Thomas Hardy:
the aspirin will thin your blood, not heart,
while further ageing further thins desire
as you try to get ready to depart.

Socrates spurned the throbbings of noontide,
grateful to be free from that indignity,
knowing they will in all of us subside
and leave the love of youthful beauty quite lust free.