General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY


And so we put the past to the past
on the road to Mandalay.
I gripped your warm hand,
and, being taller,
caught the dripping rain from overhanging trees.
We came upon the crossroads -
and you were first to hear the bell.
You pointed and cried look!
They came from the gloom...the elephants
and the Mahout.
That way! they shouted,
follow the silver-lit path!
It lay bare and untrodden.
But the moon had come up,
casting its silver light on the ground.
We walked on. The heat of the night
trickling down our backs...

In the morning,
you'd already risen.
The open window brought in the cool breeze.
I stood by the open curtain and viewed
the rolling hills of the Pennine Way.
Did you dream of it again last night?
you asked.
I didn't answer but thought of Mandalay -
still there in my consciousness:
unreached, untouched,
out on the cusp of a fifty-year old lost dream..
but back within our grasp,
it seemed.


Jarvo 2022