GRAVITY WELL

I haven't written much poetry recently.

Then, this morning, I happened to walk by the Asda garage and saw today's petrol price. I don't know why that should be a bellwether for where we're at in the world - there are far more things to see than that. But there it was. 1.84 per litre in big numbers under the grey, unrelenting sky...

Gravity Well

How did the air get so heavy

So bursting with thunder and rain?

The pendulous moods

That billow and brood

Their rolling and distant refrain

How did the world get this blanket

This thick and unbearable sky,

That crushes the air

And presses despair

As its miserable clouds linger by?

And how do we hold to the sunlight

To the Hope we remember so well?

When clear was the day

And love found a way

To break through this gravity well

Oh how did the world get so heavy

So hot with this humid despair?

Come blue sky and sun

Come fresh wind as one

To the ones who are longing for air