Reina Sofia

After so many visits

I don’t feel the need

to scrutinise
every piece of art

To take in every room

and to do it in one fell swoop.

I suppose it’s a luxury

I’ve afforded myself

Sans cars and bikes

adventurous holidays

Now I spend thirty euros a year

to come and go as I please.

Watching the people pass

through the corridor

leaning to cloistered whispers of guides

it’s enough to know

that behind these walls

is the articulation of being.

Voices echo around me

Children squawk

and thunder down ramps

Soft-soled feet shuffle by

And I, with my books

and a cold steel bench

can make my peace with time.