2007
If I met you now,
Perhaps coming down some country lane,
I know you would welcome me with open arms.
We would sit down at the roadside
And all else would fall away
Except our existence in each other.
As we sat there
Looking out across the valley fields
You would share with me
Onions, cheese and bread.
We would each take a draught of deep red wine
As we did on the Isle de la Cité.
And I would share with you
What you had never known: my adulthood.
The Summer sun would heavy heat the air
And, as we sat, we’d watch
The farmer’s boy wield an expert scythe
Mowing a field in the way it used to be.
We’d look out over the melting weald and
Talking of war and peace and life’s richness
Silently our hearts would chime together
In these brief minutes there would be
An eternity of time and an endless harmony
We would talk of books, characters and
Your memories of life in another land.
We would go over old loves
And you would tell me how as age drew on
You loved her more.
A truth I knew from seeing it.
And so, so simply, like this momentary imagining,
You would share everything I knew.
And you would know my torments as I knew yours.
You would know the joys I knew.
You would meet my children and love them pure
As you loved me.
And soon, filled up with glories
We would part and I would go my way.
Only later would I weep to realize,
As my heart burned within me,
That I had met
A Christ upon the road.