for David

We do not know the damage in the heart –
Time leaves its own constrictions, beats
Against us as we walk or struggle up each daily
Minor hill. No feeling – that’s the thing we
Wish for. Breath to stop, to pause, to shout,
to run away. No knowing pain to punctuate
or cause discomfort. And no surgical glances
from hospital juniors who have learned but
do not know the secrets of the heart.
Fat chance. In there are muscles which on
Impulse send us on our way. Theirs is
The power and the end of the story.

Chester 2005