How Vivid This Life Can Be

How vivid this life can be

The old towns deep red bricks seem so real
As breaks of pink blossom scatter over a grey branch meal
Manchester in spring, that eternal busy-ness halted
Like a town buried in sugar but so gently salted

Like a video fast forward, suddenly closed
For this special Saturday sits serenely slowed
And of all things busy, and all things short
Are paused in motion and more time is bought

Time to sit inside and watch the world go by
Manchester in spring sits in memory, like a worn tie
In a wardrobe forgotten until it falls to the floor
And all is recalled, the drum of life still sore

From those scholastic looking red brick boxes
A blackboard disguised as a city of foxes
Etched with dusty chalk by a million peoples
Written by emotion with fingers steepled

The bubbled peace pops and life returns with strength
Throned by engines, the string beginning of life's long length
Red brick boxes pocked with square glass
Seems they always save the best till last

Like a full band concerto after a pause
How vivid this life can be, even with flaws
This soap opera of life, shot in one take
Adlibbed lines and a sharpened ache

This grey compressed bubble wrapped road of life
Is fun for awhile but the noise is rife
Watching the world in this wickerwork throne
Music up loud, to drown out the drone

The noise replaced by musical myth, tellingly surreal
The cotton bud bush fanned out near that blossoms meal
For those single moments of completeness and content
Given back on Monday, this cities been lent

To a man in need of peace
Nothing beats the silence to cease
As life returns in one foul bang
I laugh at this created chaos, with a northern twang.