Already what little sunlight there has been
each day of the new year dies a little
later in the west. Today the layers
of pale orange and gold seem to stretch
like a canopy far into the Welsh hills,
over the mountains, and the sea beyond,
as if hope were only a journey away.
Meanwhile the numbers of the sick rise
everywhere like a temperature gauge –
and those of us spared thus far, through luck
or circumspection,
HINDSIGHT
A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
ON FIRST READING ‘THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO’
A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
BIRTHDAY GIRL UNDER HOUSE ARREST