I stood beside you in a dream
Saw your hand raised as in greeting
And a smile lit your beloved face;
Then back to childhood did we seem
Transported, although such meeting
Was in an undefined place
Where unobserved details would mean
One familiar day fleeting,
Following others back to base
To that old World, no longer green;
While the senses deal in cheating,
As day and twilight interlace
From where you never learned to glean
The way to secure top seating.
And I, now old, still in the race
In unfocused memory’s beam
Needful of more winter heating,
Watching the World’s declining pace,
Almost ready to come on stream
To a brother’s gentle greeting
From that eternal place of grace.
October 1997