As I Walked Out

Rereading Esther Morgan's poem As I Walked Out in last Saturday's Guardian Review, I was struck by a similarity of theme with the poem I wrote yesterday, a vagabond life. Although the means of expression are quite different, both poems are about the dream of escaping from a mundane present.

As I Walked Out

Don't tell me you've never dreamed of this -
of waking in a room with a wide open window,

the air clear and ringing after night rain;
of needing no other reason than a sky

the unbelievable blue of which
sends you flitting deftly through the house

past the year-old jar of nails and flies,
the pile of dishes in the sink, and out the back door

where you're caught for an instant in the brightness
because the future's so much easier than you'd thought -

slipping your heart under the rosebush like a key,
everything you need in the canvas bag

resting lightly at your hip
and life as simple as turning left or right.

ESTHER MORGAN (From her collection Grace published by Bloodaxe)