Something you need to see for yourself

We were in Wales visiting a friend.

He wanted us to see something

Just as we would want him to see something

If he was visiting us in Vermont.

Aren't you coming? we asked

As we noticed him drawing us a map.

Oh, no, he said.

This is something you need to see for yourself.

We parked way out on a stony lane.

We climbed a stile,

We crossed a pasture,

And then another.

We found the makeshift passage through a stone wall,

And there on the modest dome

Of a sprawling meadow we saw it

A giant table against the blue sky.

We began to feel ourselves being pulled

Like metal filings

And we wondered

Whose house is this?

I was even a little afraid.

As we retraced our steps

I kept looking over my shoulder

As if we were being watched,

Marvelling at how

The landscape easily

Packed the giant table

Back into obscurity,

So, by the time we were back in our car

It was nothing but an X

On a hand-drawn map.

But our friend was right -

It was something

That we had to see for ourselves.