Once

What parts of paradise
Are you missing,
Looking at the pavements
Or just straight ahead?
On your left is a water rat swimming
By the bank -
Mice in water
Seem incongruous
Yet there he goes!
And yes the trees have no leaves
But all the better
For the bold robin
Who landed right beside you.
I can barely walk,
On the greyest of days,
For all the faces that
Stop me -
And remind me of
The way the world was,
Once.

 

Copyright LJ 2021.