Q-Riverwalk

Riverwalk

Autumn's fire of light and leaf, takes me
From a half-grey day into a glimpse
Of certainty. Beautiful moments,
Defined perception, so quiet,
So powerful, as the river gulls cruise
Past a world pounding with silent emotion.

Here in an empty space, time is mine;
Backwards and forwards I reign.
Branch, twig and leaf scrubbed clean
With light - No mystery, don't grieve,
Just perfect. Sharp as a cut.

I stop amongst the martyred trees,
Gilded by the full-blown sun,
With one last blast of summer.
Each face I meet has a slow-cut
Strength and grace, even the freshest
Of the kids who laugh and shoulder
Up their sculls. I pass quiet men
Who tend a fire of flying blood.
Scum-crusted mud oozes out creation.
Pink buoys like giant fruit ... drift along.

Words topple in the air from passers-by,
Then echo with the gulls. School cries
From playing grounds and fields, rivers
And forgotten pools of youth. Ever
And always, the light and stillness;
Waiting to be seen as, as, as?
I move on home, giant shadows cast themselves
Upon the Thames, and buildings glow in bronze.