Roger Taber 3 - HAMPSTEAD HEATH - 2012

EPIPHANY ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH

I stood on Parliament Hill
watching children playing in the snow,
wondering where, oh, where
did my childhood go? And the rosy faces
became those I used to know

I walked on Parliament Hill
though a shrill wintry wind sure to blow,
sounds of laughter in my ears
of long, long ago but faded soon enough
among tears I’d come to know

I paused on Parliament Hill
admiring London’s heady New Year show,
wondering where, oh, where
did Santa go? But in a vast maze of streets
that in time I came to know

I descended Parliament Hill,
among sledge marks churning up the snow,
to a coming of age… where
the carefree days and ways of my childhood
may haunt but dare not follow

At the foot of Parliament Hill
I made my way home, thoughtful and slow,
mindful of an epiphany…when
I embraced the cheers and fears of adulthood
on the heath, one January snow

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
[Note: I am originally from Kent and have visited the heath since I was a teenager back in the early 1960’s.]