I saw my own joy
I heard my own laughter
I was with friends
They helped to make me
I was my self
I was my awareness
In a mind
Which was relieved and thankful
I may be there again
Another time, another place
A not dissimilar mind
Necessary to function
I have the two lives
Three if I count my own
For sure I will survive
Over the years
Have I not been robust
Even when at the limits
I have pushed on
Regrouped
As we all have
No special praise is sought
Yet still I remain firm
There is no great creator
Although it is hard to imagine
The amazing intricacies
Which make me the man I am
It was a gift
And for sure
The givers knew
That it would bring me pleasure
What they didn’t know
And neither did I realise
That by close reading
Then using for inspiration
That I would be released
Freed to write in a new way
Making many past and present connections
Both from near home, and also from, yes, from so so far away
All around are artefacts
Bought, brought, befriended
Corners checked, crossovers crossed
Down deep, deeper down, deep depths
Except elongations, elongated exceptionally easily
For flowers, for floods, for Flodigarry
Goes, go, great garrulous Gorbals
High, higher, heavy, heavier, hiatus
Inside, in, inward, indescribable indeed
Joy, joy, joy jumps, jeeps, Jasmine, Jerome K Jerome
I felt good
One footstep after another
Up the stairs to the landing
I felt light
It was light
Though I had climbed these stairs earlier
In the dark of night
Then I was caught, woken from sleep, in pain
But now I could go anywhere
And I found a book
Which might once have fallen in the bath
