You said you would wait for me
behind the shed...
the shed behind The Lotus Eaters.
You would take my hands and lead me
behind the tree.
You said we could walk to the Friendly Grocer
and buy ourselves a drink.
I said: Everyone who knows me will wonder
who you are... But I will just smile!
You said: Thanks!

An hour or two of driving and singing
'Ombra Mai Fu', again and again,
stumbling over the words, and I was there.
It was raining. I walked in the rain-
spits of rain, like specks flown from harsh words.

And I looked for the shed behind The Lotus Eaters,
half expecting you to be there waiting for me.
It was a low shed, built of asbestos sheeting and timber,
and not the silver-grey hay-barn I had imagined.
There were cows in the paddock- black and white-
the grass was long.
I did not walk behind the tree (a blackwood tree?);
nobody took my hands;
I didn't even buy myself a drink at the Friendly Grocer.
I didn't come across anyone that I knew.

I took a picture of the shed with my 'phone
and sent it to you, half a world away.
The next day you told me that you had waited
a long time for me,
but that I didn't turn up.