10 May 2026
Time to draw breath from the rushing
The pushing, the whirring, the spin
The traffic that piles in streamers
The tanks and the lorries that grin
With their wheels much hotter than ever
Whose engines spit roar to the skies …
Time to draw breath and discover
Travel broadens the mind? Pack of lies!
Just give me the glimpse of my garden
Those ravens who swallow and croak
My robin who forages quickly
He thinks all this travel’s a joke:
He knows as he builds for his nestlings
And gathers rare seeds as he flies
That new chicks do much better well-nourished
And motorways? That’s where he dies.
The modern world. All too addictive
It travels with nonchalant ease
Just pop in a number and stand there
No thank you, and never a please!
He’ll be off to New York in the morning
For luncheon and then a quick drink
Before he’ll start making for Norway
Unless there’s a storm! What a stink!
He’ll have to sleep under a blanket
Alongside the couples who wait
For their passport to Golden-Eyed Hell Hole
That will lead them to Heavenly Gate.
But it’s never enough! Ever onward!
Must dash! Got to open and shake
Several critical deals with colleagues …
Let us pray that he’ll stay spark awake.
Come! Celebrate peace on your doorstep
The triumph of key in the door
Those cups that stand gleaming and waiting
The rug on the living-room floor
The depth of the sleep until dawning
The waking to washes of sky:
Time to draw breath and to worship
I’m home without needing to fly.
With gratitude to the chauffeur who took me there and back
without making an almighty fuss about other aggressive drivers
The raven parent assiduously feeding its week-old chicks in their Idaho nest is from Alamy’s Michael Quinton/Minden Pictures: a brilliant lesson on how to get our priorities right