Rolling Through My Forties

Rolling Through My Forties

i feel a distance between, say,
my twenties,
and now,
as i roll through my forties
i feel a gap,
a distance, that i could never span
and when i look at all those years
so much – i could never understand

i think back to the 1990’s
they seem caked with innocence
and doused in ignorance

those days creeping through the noughties
seem oblivious,
eventually ending in a free for all sadness

those years since,
have seen immense highs
and the struggle,
you feel when have found you,
on the brink

and as i look around, the world
has found itself in another place
i grew up through those destructive –
thatcher years – i was baptised in thatcherism
i saw the harm it did,
now we see the end game of rotten conservatism
now we see it its time
and i feel a distance and i feel gaps

James Garratt – Saturday June 1st 2009