This has a quality of timelessness, which I've remarked on before in this author's work. It rests so solidly on a tradition of British poetry that it could have been written a century or more ago--yet it is also entirely contemporary. This is not easy to pull off, without slipping into the stiff or stilted.
There is an air of gentle self-deprecation which makes the poem so engaging for me, signalled from the start by the small boy perching by his 'friend'. A lovely piece, full of warmth and humanity. One of my favourites in this thread.
Regards, Maz
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