Poems from 'Transcapes' Along Lead Road

ALONG LEAD ROAD

Relentless were the days

Of ponies and men

Made to move ore

From there to here.

Trapped in the loop

Of endless steps and breaths

Which left them empty;

Unable to remember

The beginning

Or see the end.

That way and this,

This way and that,

They crossed the ancient

Dere Street, oblivious

To each

Cosmic collision.

When they rested

Near the Lynn Burn

I wonder,

Did they sense

The others who weaved

Through the fabric

Of their days

As I sense them

Weaving

Through mine?

On their scrawny backs

Fat men grew rich

And then died.

But the good news?

All our earthly happiness

Is relative.

(c) Barry Hall