Howard Firkin
(The Scenic Route)
The getting lost is easy, even after
the route is shown. The town has many paths
past flowering chestnuts, beeches, elders, ash,
that look the same to strangers, that lead to here:
you’re lost, and all you know is where you’re not.
That’s why the scenic route’s so good: you can’t
be aimless when your destination’s still
a blank. You have to keep on going. If
there was another way, I wouldn’t take it.
And this is my repayment: not a thing.
I walked a dozen tree-lined tracks for you,
remembering how you were once and I
am now: lost somewhere on a scenic route.
the route is shown. The town has many paths
past flowering chestnuts, beeches, elders, ash,
that look the same to strangers, that lead to here:
you’re lost, and all you know is where you’re not.
That’s why the scenic route’s so good: you can’t
be aimless when your destination’s still
a blank. You have to keep on going. If
there was another way, I wouldn’t take it.
And this is my repayment: not a thing.
I walked a dozen tree-lined tracks for you,
remembering how you were once and I
am now: lost somewhere on a scenic route.
