Now again I remember you
capacious, the smile, Hammersmith & City
a woollen scarf, the colours of Autumn
eyes beaming like the sunshine from a film
where’re you from? you asked
my coffee spills, big lady pushing at Euston Square
it’s alright you said, laughing nervously
Press pause. Rewind.
I will evoke this on another day
By Great Portland Street you had told me your name
Ah, interesting, I mutter at something you mention
I can only see lips, vast, like all the future I will fill this by
hope, jest, a gentle rush wakes from hibernation, love, something,
unripened, like an adolescent flutter.
Commuters sitting opposite us, staring
the shake of the train swinging us to sweet hypnosis
I think you laughed at a joke you’d
heard before
I change lines at the next stop
So do I, I said
voluminous, the space in my heart that wanted you suck you in
to fill the empty gaps
a short rail of possibilities
will I see you again?
but I didn’t ask that question
Goodbye, you said, Edgware Road
Goodbye, I said
I climbed out to the rain. A thousand rushing strangers.
NOORMOHAMED 