Richmond
Walking along the Thames
in Richmond, who would know
in other places in the world
people cannot go
for an evening walk when the light is like
silver on the water,
where their only thought is how to flee
famine, suffering, slaughter –
the peace here seems so deep and still
you can kid yourself it stretches
around the globe and into space,
that a kindly deity watches
his calm creation and the souls
he fashioned as they roam
before the thought of a G&T
prompts them to head back home.
Tom Vaughan
