La Retraite

I was never rostered
by the rooster so there
is nothing alarmingly
different dans le matin
because I was always
up before the hens.

But unlike most people
who retire and cancel
the alarm settings on
their clocks I have no
such luxury as life in a
camper Van is deci belli.

When by the railway it
is two hoots rat a rat tat
by the sea it’s the gulls
wuff wuff from traffic
wind near the motorway
and refuse trucks in town.

Find a place to shave and
sheet and shower and to
wash clothing somewhere
to busk for fuel and food
somewhere to park out of
shadows for solar panels.

And Winter, all changes dark
at 4pm cover on windscreen.
Mornings cold as a dogs nose,
stiff with the rheumathism of
nights inactivity and beneath this
frosted stratosphere a liquid silence.