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The Canal

Take me back
to when the cider was heavy,
and the way was long and unsure.
Take me back
to the days that I kissed
with patience and naive certainty -
those days
when I never wasted a beer.
Take me back
to that bedroom, that first kiss, that feeling.
To when I was her waking thought,
her lunchtime talk,
and her goodnight kiss.
To when I was her first, first love,
introduced to her father
over fish and chips.
Take me back
to the day that I spent in high school
that lasted twenty-two years.
To me and Ian Curtis
holding on for dear life.

Just take me out of this sequence
and back to those hours of my youth
upon the canal’s edge,
where the water was polluted,
but our minds were crystal clear.

- Elijah James
Written: 09/10/2017Published: 26/05/2023