When I Was Ten

transported by a whiff of air
to my English childhood where

the future stretched away unseen
all seemed right, the world was green

humidity, my mum called 'close'
my uncle's house contained a ghost

I had a sister, two brothers too
and every day was fresh and new

now many years have come and gone
in Canada where I belong

with memories and feelings which
a whiff of air has been the switch

to cascading thoughts of what was then
before I left, when I was ten