I arrived just as everyone
was going home for the night,
another good day’s work completed.
I sat down to wait in the foyer –
well, atrium actually. I looked up and up
at floor upon foliage-fringed floor
until my eyes arrived at the apex
of the glass roof, where they rested a moment,
while I wondered who washed it or, indeed,
if anyone did. Then my gaze slid
down to light on a small tree opposite.
I slumped deeper into the large mud-brown sofa
and waited, listening to the sounds of parting:
doors opened and slammed shut with abandon,
free-at-last footsteps clanged down the metal stairwell,
shards of happy chatter dropped, shattered,
a man with a heavy limp click-clacked across the wooden floor,
good nights were offered, returned.
And I sat waiting, my eyes fixed on the small green tree.
All around me the world was moving, leaving,
and I, rooted there, leafing.
By the time someone came to fetch me,
I had turned into a tree.
Poems:
Listen to Your Manager
Your Smile
On the Beach at New Quay
Banana
While Waiting
Boy at the Somme
Stories:
The Dream Team
The Dog Who Cried Custard
Bags of Inspiration
Time Flies
Little Devil