i saw the whole
you saw a wound in the moon
but only when asked to think back
to a still still night
a chink nicked out of it
like a ticket by a passing railway guard
or the bite of some massive snaggle toothed rat

you feared a missile demonstration
others hypnotised could not see
though you couldn’t look again, not then
you were clear you hadn’t seen it
when you looked and on reflection
now wonder if you doubted it there
in response to the medics’ tone
of doubt to all you said
almost like they’d insisted you
question yourself into fear

but then you also wondered
if a time bomb had dropped
leaving you wild in a bubble of calm
the weather all to hell everywhere else

at night you feared Putin’s lightning missiles
were visible, bubble slowed,
from your viewpoint, by an airy treacle
honing in on a lighthouse you’d not noticed
wasn’t there by day
their tracks perfectly fitting
streetlights in perspective
how you tried to pray them backwards

but worst, you said later,
is that it didn’t matter to anyone
how the visions all came
with the medication

A.H / K.H-H (13/4/20)