The paving slabs in the back yard
are uneven with the roots underneath
and around the edges there are bits
of metal that might have been a chair once
rusted out of recognition over many summers.
It is summer again now.
Tiny spiders dart from sunlight
to sunlight then under the slabs.
And an ant, and another.
Five figures lie back on rugs
in the middle of all this,
hands behind their heads,
looking up into the sky.
They are sunbathing.
And if they’re taking time out,
so am I. I’m not going to try
to describe their bodies.
One of them is wearing eyeliner.
I can describe the ant and the ant.
That’s easy. They’re like lonely soldiers.