I very much enjoy the conversations you and I have in my head,

The rambling dialogues cast from my bed

(For different reasons I am anchored to mine much of the time)

Where we find comfort in commonalities –

Teachers who valued connection over hierarchy;

Nurturing souls who lived child-free;

Passionate nationalists for rose tinted lands;

‘Difficult women’ who let nobody force their hands

And over this period of lockdown especially you have focused my thoughts

On how a true period of confinement

Can lead to a refinement –

Unencumbered by oughts –

After all – we could all be hit by a bus tomorrow

But who among us would see a window for growth,

Beyond sorrow.