Christmas, Downtown Melbourne
Ding dong
Ding
Dong
A man enters the post office
Ding dong
His knuckles are grey
Ding dong ding
He walks past the card stand
Dong ding
His feet are bare
Dong dong
He stops and bends down
Ding dong ding
His paper bag is ripped
Dong
He looks up at the roof
Ding dong
One eye is open, the other is half shut
Ding ding
He draws a deep breath
Ding
No-one sees him, no-one is looking
Dong
Now the man is starting to sing
The notes of Jerusalem
Are bold as a bell
They rise to the vault of the ceiling
Then descend
Every space is filled
Every person is still
The last note has landed
Shoppers and postal workers stomp and clap
Ding dong dong ding dong dong ding ding dong
Ding dong dong ding dong ding dong dong dong ding
A person in uniform walks to the man
Turns him, takes him away.
Pamela Morrison
Pam wrote this poem about a pre-Christmas experience she had several years ago. It seems rather sad that it ends the way it does - as she captures the magic and finally the pathos of the incident.A Dunedin based poet, Pam is an ex-journalist who has had "the odd poem published." Now in a completely different line of work, she's enjoying having no deadlines, and not having to write other people’s stories. She loves sharing her work with others, and she is a fantastic part of the Tuesday Poetry blog group and an avid blogger - more of her poems can be found here at her blog site where she continues to explore the world with words.
So cheers Pam and all the other poets on the Tuesday Poem site for making this a memorable year in poetry.
A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page
Oh, such a heartbreaking swan song of sorts! But stunning rhythm. Thanks for posting, I will check out more of Pam's blogging and poetry.
ReplyDeleteYes, not quite the same outcome as the You-Tube clips of choirs singing the Hallelujah chorus in food halls or kids dancing to Do-Re-Mi in train stations (both of which I loved, but still ...) And 'Jerusalem' is pretty hard to sing a-capella ... Very apposite poem.
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