Once there was a weary traveller…

‘’I’ve told you to put your uniform in the wash!’’

Who pined for rest and comfort

The night was drawing, CRASH- ‘’ Oh, here give me that’’

The night was drawing in so fast

And there seemed no place to slumber

‘’I’ve told you a million times go to bed’’

A good night’s sleep was their only need

But fate would have other ideas…

‘’Mum, the cat got out again’’

Resigned they wandered the empty roads

Until time itself seemed to stop

And now here comes the sun, rising high

And the birds in the sky, singing bright

‘’Let’s rise and shine my little loves/ Eat your breakfast/ Mind the dog’’

Now it had begun again, no time

To stop, and so they just gave up and joined in the song

Too much for me I said to those free,

The ones who tried and could To sell dreams and punt food

My mission was muddied My reputation sullied

Mistakes were made And games were played

But now that all that’s over I’m back to being my own lover

What a notion To finish a poem With such a line That is just fine And not only that But it’s meaning is flat Stretching this metaphor wide So it fits round the side And to the end to make sense How can we shut what must be an omen It’s very clear that the implement is broken I cannot conceive that this would be spoken “He shut the door wide open” Aha!

Have you ever been close to something so disproportionate in size to you, so mammoth and looming, that your entire body has turned to jelly and a sense of impending doom has settled into your bones? Think gigantic, towering, impossibly fluffy, spotted all over, life sized and like giraffe.

Now let’s couple that with the searing fluorescence of light strips and screens over and around head. Surrounded by high pitched tones and pops of colour so artificial you can’t believe they’re real.

Hamleys was the place, with the finest toys, and ability to trigger every one of my fears. The hypersensitivities, overstimulation and megalophobia that plagued me daily. And I was here because I needed to get a new friend for a new friend, a little bundle of human light who needed to know, from the get go, that I was the provider of comfort and calm that would always be there.

“Can I return these please?”, she inquires, As book after book appears from a tote bag “How much to use the photocopier?”, he asks, As he brandishes old newspapers and a 50p “Please may I book a carrel, for 4pm?” they request As they fidget with the straps of a too heavy rucksack

I overheard these words in the library as I sat Whispered demands & casual courtesy Obliged by its custodians just like that in a kingdom of analogue industry In a manner so practical & practiced You’d think this was a ballet rehearsed and not just a subsidised service

To think of you lying there As blows came raining down on your beautiful head As feet trampled that space where gorgeous laughter emerged As a crowd decried your being unnatural and unwelcome I am filled with a sorrow so deep no light can touch it To think of you still standing here As you laid claim to that hurt and made them guilty As you gave truth a face and never looked away even when you had every right To think of you still shining through those ever shrinking cracks As you gather yourself and choose a life worth living I am filled with a sorrow for those who could ever try to rob this light And never know the joy of someone so whole