Don’t know where
she said

standing by the back gate
which backed

onto the woods
with the evening creeping in

and she having snuck out
of her house without

her mother seeing
looked quite nervous

and kept looking back
over her shoulder

as if her mother
may have followed

can’t go to my place
she said

or mine you said
they’re always there

especially this time
of an evening

what about the hay barn?
You suggested

looking at her eyes
blue cornflowers

and that smile
that could have lit

fires in dark places
and she said

don’t want no hay stalks
touching my ***

and she laughed
and you wanted to capture

her laughter
and that smile

and her bright blue eyes
and your youth

and that thinking
you had forever

and the monopoly
on truth.