Breather
On the church steps, pink horseshoes hook silver hearts, lift in the wind, petalling grass and graves.
In suits and awkward hats, round the lich-gate strangers whisper. I’ll rest on this uncertain wall, wait for the chain of black cars.
Lichen rubs from the stone to my hand.
A girl who is nothing to do with any of this trundles her pushchair through the wreath of cars.
The edge of the wall shakes under me. I think about shifting. I don’t move.
Noel Williams has published widely in magazines and anthologies in the UK. He is editor of Antiphon and Associate Editor of Orbis. His first collection, Out of Breath, will be published by Cinnamon in 2014.