Strings & Kites

Watching
Kites above Hampstead
Whipped to wild
In the spring wind
Your breath bated
My hand cold blue
With an imprint of string
Tugging, and in my view
The hum under your tongue
Filling the Heath
As if a drone of bees
Had been unleashed

You said, Lie down
Lie down!
So I did, on the side
Of the hill,
The ground a mantle
Of shoots, my arms
Above my head as if
I were about to dive, legs
Pressed together tight

Began the roll
Laughing louder than
I ever knew I could
Over and over -
Grass into sky
Into grass
Until I had to
Close my eyes

Came to rest
Where the hill
Splayed out to
Take me recumbent
And heavy and light

I listened to you
Calling from the brow
Are you alright?
And I was -
I was watching the
Fluttering of kites
Smiling and
Grass stained and
Dizzy.