Ford Prefect

I've been driving my Ford Prefect
three gears            plus reverse
along B roads            out of the heat
going slow to look round each corner

Just before noon            visibility good
tarmac average, smooth enough
(someone's going to get me
sooner or later
you feel it in your bones)
I park in a lay-by
walk to Trethevy Quoit
open up to history
like she was my mother
no language            half-afraid
trust the decades ahead
(they'll get you first
for sure)
an apprentice            in preparation

I want to run home
lapse in and out
I've been got by a gang
and now I'm fleeing
they're after me

throw myself
onto my bed
let judders of dark waves
beat me
into mud, anywhere I can find escape
just wake when over

no need to stand, stomach this
I could choke with that wet soil in my throat
or just slip myself away
or maybe they will crash through the door
vent their savage cruelty

I don't know what is real
& when it might have been


~ ~ ~