Stories to make you smile
Here, not there: coaxing my mind out of the mountains

I should be in the mountains. Right now, as I write this, I should be in a Spanish spring meadow, looking up to great peaks and down a sweeping green valley. But instead, thereās the metal gates to a locked up college out one window, an empty train station out the other, a grey concrete driveway out a third. I know how lucky I am. All the people I care about are safe and gratitude has never come more easily. But as any traveller will know, itās hard to stop my mind wandering out the door and into those mountains whenever it gets a quiet moment.
But itās not all bad. Just beyond the college is a meadow of our own. It doesnāt come with a valley, but it is getting overgrown with spring flowers because the cows arenāt there to eat all the grass this year. Beyond that is a nature reserve, a little haven of wild nature, behind a gate thatās rarely opened. The Picos arenāt going anywhere, Iāll go when I can. In the meantime, I can put on my boots and go for a walk. I can bring my mind down off that mountain and into the present, into Hertfordshire, into April 2020. Then write daft poems that try to make sense of this madness. I hope this one comes close.
Itās about wanting to go āover there, way up thereā to some exotic new place, but being instead forced (reluctantly) to explore whatās under your nose. Maybe it's only when we havenāt paid big money for it or invested great hopes and expectations in it that we can really appreciate nature's worth. When it's not there to pose for photos. I donāt know what mental image it brings to mind, maybe something akin to James and The Snowman soaring over some magical snowless landscape where the city collides with lagoons and rainforest (Rio de Janeiro, perhaps?). Perhaps with a big wise owl instead of The Snowman and without that haunting Aled Jones song that I detest. I donāt know. Maybe the mental image is someone going a bit mad in lockdown.
Here, not there
Drop me there, over there!
Where the waterfall roars
Itās loud and itās tall and I want to explore
Well I canāt you see, thatās not government policy
But hereās a babbling brook
That I think is worth a look
Why donāt you go and explore?
Drop me there, way up there!
Where that great condor flies
Itās high and itās free and I want to look into its eyes
I canāt Iām afraid, many new rules have been made
So instead hereās a kite
Thatās quite majestic in flight
Why donāt you go and explore?
Drop me there, way down there!
In those rainforest trees
It looks dark and green and I want to go see
I canāt as youāll know, the government said so
But hereās a woodland instead
Through which a walking trail threads
So why not go and explore?
Take me there, over there!
Where the drumming band sings
It is loud and itās colourful and I want to join in
You canāt join in, thatās not social distancing
But come listen to this woodpecker
Itāll make you feel much better
Oh why donāt you want to explore?
Over there, over there!
Show me that mountain lagoon
It glistens and it shimmers and I want to go soon
I canāt, donāt you know, the borderās still closed
But over here is a stream
That is not all that it seems
Oh why donāt you go and explore?
Letās go there, over there!
Where the skyscrapers rise
I want to get close and appreciate their size
Not a chance, donāt you see the streets are empty?
But these trees are the same
Skyscrapers in all but name
So why not go down and explore?
Not here, not there
We canāt go anywhere
I donāt like it and it doesnāt seem fair
Not here, not there
You neednāt go anywhere
All the things that you see
Look so different to me
Thatās why you can go and explore
If not a waterfall
If not a drumming band
What is it you see that I canāt?
Itās not drummers I see
But a woodpecker, in a tree
Itās he who makes that great chant
And that great waterfall
That you say is so tall
Is just a few inches to me
So the mountain lagoon
Is just a glistening steam?
The condor was just part of a dream?
And your rainforest floor
Is a woodland and no more
But you can still go out and explore
So do waterfalls
Still exist at all?
Are forests still dark and green?
And what of the open plains
And the ancient remains
Are they real if they cannot be seen?
Waterfalls still flow and tumble my friend
Forests are still dark and green
The plains still roll out
And the ruins remain
Even if they cannot be seen
Will they still be there
When we can go out again?
Will they still be there
When this policy ends?
Theyāll be here, theyāll be there
Iāll show you one day
But until then thereās no need to despair
Everything that you seek
Is right here at your feet
Itās all just a matter of where
In the woodlands, right?
Where the woodpecker takes flight
And the streams glisten in the hot sun?
Where the trees show their might
And in the sky soars a kite
Where imagination and nature are one
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