Driving through the mizzle
On the A127
Trying to understand all of this
And the train of time
Rolls on relentlessly
As I struggle to keep up
Closing my eyes
Through this darkest part
Recognising the long night
I’ve been in
Confronting the imposter
Within
A near accident at the traffic circle
of Loughton high street
but nobody hooted at anybody
and man in a chicken suit
stands outside a real estate office
next to a blonde
promoting something
the cars whish past
spraying water up from the road
and the drizzle kept coming down
didn’t look like stopping anytime soon
like it was plugged in
the woman in a long checked shirt
walked past under an umbrella
and I smelled the cigarette smell coming off her
the 397 hummed past
but in the wrong direction
old man in a mask
shuffling past almost aimlessly
cars kept on by
wsshhhh
wsshhhh
the world hits different on Saturday morning
seven more minutes for my ride
but it gave me a chance to savor
the best
damn
cappuccino
I’d had in years
She smiled at me in the rain
On the steps of Aldersgate Church
Our eyes meeting under the black wide brows of open umbrellas
As the grey rain drizzled over us
Over all of us
A smile
So alien in this London gloom
Like something from another world, one I’d prefer
I walked on
Hearing the sound of a travel bag being rolled on pavement near me
The sound of adventure
Pretty sure the rain had wet the bag on my back
And my shoes were wet
I thought of waves and villages
And smiles
An ambulance wailed past
A construction drill echoed through the streets
Notes from the Narrow Lanes 