Standing on one leg in Birmingham

Staying overnight in a strange room
I awoke and decided to make something happen,
To create a moment that might be remembered.

So I wrote to my daughter (the old fashioned way with a pen on a card)
And I told her some of the things about her
That were special to me.

Remembering the unposted letters that have haunted my life
I seized the moment and a stamp,
Taking my folding bike through the foyer,
Past the bemused receptionist and
Out into the grey drizzling morning.

Savouring the cold damp air
I assembled the bike then
Stood on one leg
to tuck the trouser into the sock.

Then it struck me,
Standing on one leg in Birmingham,
That a moment had frozen in time.

I was alive, balancing on one leg while the
Earth turned,
The clouds slid across the bowl of the sky
And the wet air wove between the
Brick and concrete mazes of the town.

I was aware,
In touch with myself as if the very
Act of balancing
Brought poise and pause to time.

People around me moved in silence,
Soundwaves slowed and stopped.
My stillness hung in the air
Imprinting memories on
The Rosary chain of life...

A grey drizzle,
A letter, a bike and
A man standing on one leg
In Birmingham.

(c) A Mc N