329. six seconds on a sunny afternoon
No smoke
No flames
No dust
No person
Standing at the side of the road
No movement
At all
Serenity, almost
On this lovely blue-sky day
And
Up ahead
At the roundabout
A cop car
Blocks the way onto the A16
That side of the Armco
As the girl in blue
– no more than twenty – slows and
Stops her running
By the white car
which is Wrapped, Wrapped, Wrapped
Strangely
Around that tree
Way off the ground
And level with the road above
– her hand
Covers her mouth, wide-eyed
Wild-eyed
In that universal gesture
Of horror and disbelief.