23 MARCH 1991, Page 39

Permanent

We children had the freedom of the house, Wandered from room to room, at home in each, And felt no hiding place was out of reach; Fiercely awake, and yet oblivious; Till each of us discovered he had spent A month — perhaps a year — in the same place And then, trying in panic to retrace His steps, discovered this was permanent.

Edward Lowbury