James Walton #56 The Merlin and Gandalf take a tea break

not incense this

an aniseed veil

wood smoke curling

without enthral intent

Avalon rightly taken

mixed with fog now

as the high plains

burn for next season

and on the road below

a tourist bus so slow

I could descend

from goat shanking about

these lost icons of others

out of my heart kicker walk

brandish my day staff

cough out in cathartic asthma

You Shall Not Pass

but some days

you can’t call down the magic

on some days

you’re just an old bloke trawling

daydreams of almost Camelot

waiting for the departing madrigal

and a challenge beyond the grail

not willing to so easily give

Mordor’s itinerants such a thrill