Relationships

Poem 953 – Encounters On the Tube

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He sees her canine companion and asks
if he may stroke it. She says yes
and soon they’re talking, clicking, smiling.
Names are exchanged, one Brit, one Greek,
but alas this is her stop. She panics.
Are you on Facebook? No, he says,
but by now the doors are closing down
on alternatives and what could be.

Meanwhile, in another carriage she pouts,
arranges her hair and lips and lashes,
and purring, poses for her phone
(it’s neatly perched between her nails).
She loves it and hopes the feeling’s mutual.
It’s safe at least and undemanding,
but underneath she hungers for
the danger of uncertainty.

I love people watching on the tube. These were both scenes I saw on a journey today `although they weren’t simultaneous as the poem suggests. The contrast between them was fascinating.
(26.07.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

Poem 947 – One Day

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Today I buried Reynard,
Enjoyed a coffee in Spoons,
And was mistaken for Thomas Tuchel.

Today I sat beneath,
A ghostly barn owl fly-past,
And partial rusty moon.

Today has been surreal,
Disturbing and exciting,
And sometimes awe-inspiring

A long and busy day.
(20.07.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Lou Barros on Unsplash

Poem 944 – The Lovers Meet (expanded) (The Ballad of the Wake cont.)

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Now one year on it’s time to turn
To Flanders for his wife,
Who he’d left there with his nephews,
Siward the Red and White, these two
The noblest of his men both true
In caring for her life.

Oh what a joyful reunion!
Two lovers at last combined!
Their separation was so hard,
By circumstances kept apart,
But now true love’s restored at last,
Their lives as one aligned.

United in each others arms,
Eyes locked together fast,
Two lives entwined like ivy vines,
They celebrate, two glasses of wine,
A couplet, lines that are perfectly rhymed,
Two hands so tightly clasped.

And here they would have happily stayed
But alas it wasn’t to be,
Outside these walls the world span on,
And trouble brewed that impinged upon,
Their peace and joy so freshly won,
That longed to blossom free.

Expanding and placing in context the reunion of Hereward and Turfrida in yesterday’s poem.
(17.07.36)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Will O on Unsplash

Poem 928 – The Club Convenes in Person

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Slowly we converge. Alert, we trace
each stranger’s face to ascertain their nature.
Do those features belong to one of us?
We hesitate, it’s better to be cautious
than run unnecessary risk. Be careful.
Watch and wait. Let someone else move first.
A stranger looks your way. Eyes briefly meet
then break away. An accidental action,
or look of recognition? Turn back and see.
They’re looking too, it’s time to make your move.

The first in person meeting for The Pendragon Club, an online community gathered around the imaginary worlds created by Julian Simpson. And what a brilliant evening it was!
(30.06.26)

© Ben Quant 2026

Poem 923 – A Heavenly Blacksmith

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The furnace of the African sun
Was the perfect place to forge a friendship,
To meld our souls, two servants together.
It only seemed appropriate that
This friendship was restored today
Under the blaze of this burning Sun.
As one we walk in different fields,
A common life in different cultures,
Together refined by Christ the Son.

In an act of perfect symmetry I was reunited with a friend from Sierra Leone in a heatwave reminiscent of my time there.
(25.06.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Vincenzo Marotta on Unsplash

Poem 914 – Mike

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Thunderbirds are go,
or so you used to say
(unlike the trains you loved –
are those llamas on the track?!)

Ham sandwiches and mustard,
you waved me on my way,
with home made flags and cheering,
on my saddle-bound holiday.

(Remember the size of the restaurant
plates we ate from? So large
I thought we’d never make it
to the end. You did.)

Sniggering in meetings.
Inappropriate jokes
at serious moments. Laughter
invaded toil and lightened.

As a mentor in Salone,
generous in wisdom.
Gaps between meetings grow
but birthday cards still come.

Until this year. They stopped,
I fear, no more. We used
to pick up where we left off.
One day, I pray, we will.

We said goodbye to a dear friend yesterday. It isn’t a great poem and won’t make to much sense to others, but it’s been good to remember shared moments in the past.
(16.06.26)

© Ben Quant 2026

Poem 899 – Devoted

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A precious afternoon
With no prior agenda
Devoted to each other
Listening and reminiscing
About old times, old friends
And sharing time together
‘Cause nothing else matters

An afternoon spent with an old friend whose time with us is drawing to its end.
(01.06.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash