Tap
tap
facing into the grass crickets frogs
tap
like the head of a horse poised still
cold and
majestic tap never moving tap tap
trapped
inside itself never moving in the rain never
moving
all summer long it was a long summer
our longest ever the flies the tap
the grass
trembling around the tap grass thicker than
skin
the grass the thick bright green grass
moistened
by
the tap the grass living and dying in
the night
the morning insects all the insects living
dying
around the tap that never lives or dies
the tap
that faces the wild dandelions that spring
up and
knock down
like the knockdown grasses inside the
gale the wind your hair your last
smile here
has carried me forwards by the Gary scarecrow
the apple tree no apples now but the great
brown
horses
who own the mystery of this paddock
paddock in their image like all great paddocks
inhabited by horses the grace of horses
they own
each other their sun in the mornings their
calm
places
out of the wind their open gates and leafy
oily dams the waterbirds oh the
dark lovely
crow lonelier than the evening more
company
finally us the tap nestled into
the pipes of the
house
pipes the backbone of the tap the
only
bone that will never release us the tap
with frost
is still stiller than a field of
frost stiller stiller
than birds before a winter downpour on dark
the
tap
it is rusty cold yet it persists here
as itself
give this tap warmth the warmth of your
gaze
give it your innocence it will not harm
you give
the tap your curiosity questions the
absolute
place
you share in time with it your
backbone
your stillness and uneventuating dreams your
childs life your loss the weariness of
your hands
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