Tim Edwards: ‘Dubai Landing’ and ‘That Old Land Breeze’

Dubai Landing

Drawn in from a cold dark height,

and still capsuled in shallow sleep,

we join the golden bird’s night vision,

her nose camera putting us in the box seat.

Speed now reduced to a televised package,

we sink slowly into a new sun,

the main runway filling the frame,

with a massive blinking carpet,

of unquestionable light.

Tim Edwards

That Old Land Breeze

On the edge of the desert, near the sea,
I met you for the first time.
You came in the hours before dawn,
Seasoned with seeds and insects,
Whistling your way through vents
In the old Kombi. Outside in the dark
You made small flags of my pegged T-shirts,
My sarong a ghost between trees.
Over breakfast you brought the sound
Of rushing surf to the highest palm fronds,
While taunting the hissing blue rings
Of the gas cooker, flattening the flames
And powdering plates with red dust.

It was at first light, in dry leaves
Tumble turning down the street,
That I would hear you again.
Four decades had not aged you,
Your…