They are eating thick biscuits in silence.
Thousands of crumbs are falling
from their mouths like the thousands of afternoons
they have spent in each other’s company.
Plop goes a visit to the canal on her bumbag.
There goes a trip to the zoo
tumbling on to his fleece sleeve,
meerkats standing tall, lions drifting off
behind glass. A clump of pottering around
hand in hand through National Trust parks
pointing at well lived-in houses
lands on his muddied walking boots.
She takes another bite and 300 stops
in the library to flick through
A-Z maps of England trickle to the café floor.
When the thick biscuits are finished they sip
their coffees. Each mouthful a river of comfort
coursing through their next adventure.

Carl Burkitt 2024