Night in the Caravan

              CARAVAN: NIGHT

              Outside we may be surrounded
              by near-parked vans on a rainy
              car-park of hard macadam,
              or alone by a polecat haunted wood
              a field away from the line to Crewe -
              up to our corner-steadies in mud
              on a wind-lashed coastal strip,
              or locked in behind the railings
              of Knowlsey Safari Park -
              But wherever we are
              when the sun has sunk
              and the last cup of coffee's been drunk

              Curtained from the world
              Inside the inside
              All life -
                     wife
                     children
                     dog
                     self

              breaths speak
              quietly

              before the dawn babble breaks!

              © GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Heckmondwike, 1st May 1984

Unpublished