Did you see him as he drifted

Did you see him as he drifted

From one place to another?

A chubby-faced child danced happily

With a jubilee balloon on a stick

Naked as a cherub, other than a pair of grubby pants

Bare feet covered in dirt

From a royal flowerbed

Two men slept on the grass

Even though it wasn’t very warm

Surrounded by empty beer cans

And the day was far from being done

A young couple kissed beneath a sign

Advertising dental hygiene

Further along, a man in a hat sat

Outside a hair regrowth clinic,

A sad-faced clown

With painted tears, smoked a roll-up

And sipped whisky from a hip flask

Nobody saw him

Or the floating man

The Screen on the Green

Was showing Top Gun and the Goonies

In some eighties throwback

As a bunch of people wearing union jack hats

Laid tablecloths over a run of trestle tables

That once upon a time

Or maybe tomorrow

Somebody would use to paste wallpaper

Greggs the baker was represented

In the piles of sausage rolls, cheese and ham rolls

And cream horns

It might be a street party

Even as storm clouds gather

Nobody looked up as he floated by

A stranger in blue jeans

Out for a stroll

In the afternoon

Wondering what the fuss was all about

He must have been an alien

Not to know it was the Queen’s jubilee,

Hoping nobody would notice

His disinterest

Was a fabrication

To disguise his lack of connection,

Nothing could hold him

He was lighter than air

Without substance

Invisible to the casual glance

Perhaps he was a ghost in a dream

If anybody asked

Nobody would ever recall seeing him

The biggest lie of all

Was his pretence that in fact invisibility

Was a preference

A lack of attachment suited him

Down to the ground

Free of complication

Free of obligation

Free to air

A free spirit

A prisoner to himself.