The World Turns

The world turns
And I am enchanted,
Bewitched by its busyness,
Dazed by diversity.
Cavorting and capering,
It dallies and dances,
Never-ending procession:
A modern-day pageant.

Potent with purpose,
Bristling with business,
Strutting their strategy,
An army marches by.
But now, intermingled,
Timeless, disordered,
Are daring dissenters,
Breaking the mould.

Glorious pageant,
Bruegel-like vista,
Twisting and turning,
In riotous dance.
Twirling kaleidoscope,
Momentary patterns,
Unfolding before me -
Dramatic displays.

They hover a moment,
Held fast in my view,
Then on with the dance:
All at once they are gone.
Fragments of city life,
Passions and promises,
Momentary episodes
In lives quite unknown.

Like a static display
At the heart of revolving doors,
I sit, in my silence,
At the hub of it all,
Whilst the world all around me
Beats out its tune:
A frenetic fantasia -
Of rhythm and blues.

Earth around Sun,
Moon around Earth,
Earth turns on its axis,
I revolve in my chair.
I open my eyes and
Life overwhelms me,
Stare into space,
Starry-eyed at the view.

Lingering to watch
I sit behind glass,
Cocooned in my thoughts,
Invisible, dumb.
Skateboarders, businessmen,
Shoppers and loafers,
A mingling myriad
Of flotsam and jetsam

Thrown up before me –
Oblivious throng –
They dance past like shadows
But a child intervenes:
Breaks free from his mother’s grasp,
Smiles through the window,
Invitation unspoken
To join in the dance.

The world turns
And I am enchanted,
Cavorting and capering,
Not dallying, but dancing,
I run to the window
Returning his smile,
The glass all transparent -
A barrier no more.