It would never be us
It would never be us
We were different
We would stay up all night
Smoking and drinking
Make love on a rug
In front of the fire
By candlelight
Cling together
Covered in paint and sweat
Look out at the stars
The haze of clouds enveloping
A wishing moon.
We watched as
Across the street
Front rooms lit up
One by one
Primary colours at dawn.
Sleepy cars coughed and growled
Wheezing with old age
And the crankiness of the disturbed
Puffy-eyed people streamed from houses
The children bored
Half asleep,
Parents drained
Angry, enflamed.
Pestered by weenies
Hanging from their arms
Screaming for something or other
Dispatched
Into car seats
Deposited like dead things
Tied down
Prisoners of conscience.
Rolling away
Leaving a square patch of lawn
A weeping willow
A window box
Full of Geraniums
Waving them off
To a school drop, then work.
A suburban morning
Nothing too exciting
It happened every day
They returned looking grey
Elbows worn before their time.
We said our perspective
Was different
I said it would never be me
I would not conform
To societal norm
Too much would be lost
In the drying out.
As I tip water from a can
Onto the Bougainvillea
Snip at the Bonsai
On the balcony
Sip coffee from a mug
Fifty years of the NHS
Cracked but serviceable
Wearing Uggs.
Nursing a hangover
From drinking
Until past midnight
Trying to write something
Unforgettable
Giving up in a huff.
Tearing up at old movies
With the sound switched off
Whilst listening
To Blood on the Tracks
On repeat
Remembering a friend
Who died that way
It will never be me.