Number 49, Siesta

Siesta.

I saw a man leave on a train,

He went and then came back again.

It wasn’t like he’d gone for long,

More like he’d gone to somewhere wrong.

I saw a girl get in a car,

She stopped before she had gone far,

Parking it before the fork;

I don’t know why she didn’t walk!

I saw a boy jump on his bike,

Then go as slowly as you like.

He leaned it up against a wall,

As if he didn’t go at all.

I saw some children in the street,

Stopped still with plimsoles on their feet.

They looked like they'd been having fun,

But now it seemed they couldn’t run.

I heard the clock attempt to chime,

At midday; only making nine.

The sun beat down from overhead,

It seemed the whole place now was dead.

I tried to walk across the road,

But all my energy had flowed

Into the gutter with the heat,

And lay me down there in the street.

It wasn’t until after three,

A shadow gently covered me.

Somebody somewhere made a sound,

And slowly life resumed all round. 

© Stephen Saunders

To book Steph'nonsense for a rhyming evening:
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Agent / publisher wanted.