Reeth is a small town in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. Maybe 2 pubs, maybe a
couple of cafes, maybe a dozen shops, and that's it. But do you need to know
that? Possibly not.
All comments welcome!
Such Enlightening
New Year’s Eve is a town like Reeth
where local accents are different
and in some holiday cottage Co-op carrier bags
with clinking bottles, bags of pasta, are carried from a car
that ticks in the damp air, its windows gleaming
with lights from the Christmas tree on the green.
Footprints on the moist pavement disappear.
The door closes shutting out darkness for the evening
until at midnight so many people, unfamiliar to the place,
stand outside, glasses in hand, listening to the air
more than to each other, their breath rising
to a drunken moon whose light hides many faint stars.
Bob Cooper
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