Lazing in Belgrave’s autumn sunlight…
A plain egg and lettuce sandwich…
An exotic cappuccino…
Dreaming on distant mountain peaks…
Alone…
When a man crossed my dream…
Just another passer by…
But he stopped…
Smiled…
And quietly bent down
To pat a tiny, wide-eyed dog…
Tied to a nearby table post…
The moment lasted but a whisper of time…
Till I watched him walk away…

But the man returned…
Paper tucked under his arm…
The dog had gone…
And the man now sat at the table…
Armed with an exotic cappuccino…
Facing me…
Again a smile…
Inviting me to join him…

Tony…His name was Tony…

He said he had borrowed some time today…
Usually, on a weekday, he cared for troubled youth…
Angry youth…frightened youth…
Those who struggled behind the school desk…
Those who sorely needed what he called
“A Vision Quest”…
A time to challenge the inner mettle…
Confront the fear…
And awaken the spirit of being…

Proudly but softly he told he had a special diploma on his wall in his office…
One he felt he had really earned…
It was awarded to him by “The University of Hard Knocks”…
Again…that gentle smile…

You see…I repeated a couple of years at school…
The agony of learning matched the agony of being who I am…
But after school…
I dared to try again…
Another smile…

And so the two teachers…
One within the school walls and one without…
Pooled ideas…shared winnings…and losings…
Time seemed to wait…breathless…
Till suddenly the exhilaration of this accidental magic
Seemed to falter…slow…listening…for a new music…

And music there was…
He was a jazzman…
A lover of Afro-Cuban rhythms…
He loved to play the yearnings of the soul…
This time…I was the one to smile…
For I loved to sing…

So more time must have passed…
Yet all that seemed to matter
Was the inner glow…
Discovering our lyrics…
And our music…

Somewhere…
There had to be some ordinary chit-chat…
Time out…
Light relief for the heightened senses…
Somewhere…

I live in Blackburn…for now…

Some moons ago…

He used to live in the same street…
Just a handful of houses away…