but when it comes it is beautiful
and needs no justification—

the canal, the lock, three green narrow
boats and suddenly in the centre

a single man, white-haired throw
back from long before electrification,

climbing steps and about to enter
his high-walled garden, which is full

of flowering trees and trespassing vines —
and then only fields and parallel lines.

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First published in the Winchester Poetry Prize Anthology 2022.