Solitude

–Caroline Caddy

It’s something they carry with them

                      – explorers  night shifts  seamen –

like a good pair of binoculars

or a camera case

                perfectly and deeply compartmented.

It has a quiet patina

that both absorbs and reflects

                           like a valuable instrument

                                                you have to sign for

 – contract with alone –

                     and at the end of the voyage

                                                          you get to keep.

Sometimes it’s very far away.

Sometimes so close

               at first you think the person next to you

is picking up  putting down

                                 a personal cup

                                    a book in another language

before you realise what

– when talk has moved off

                               leaning its arms

                                       on someone else’s table –

is being

handed to you.