For Some Indication

Trafalgar Square, London, 1977

Waiting between the paws
of a large bronze lion
for the photo to be taken,
for some indication
that I was free now to move
on a cold winter's day;
November, December,
maybe February;

a long way from home
and my head thumping
with the red roar
of Picadilly's double-deckers,
but certainly with no thought
for the flicking fingers
and sighs
of my great-aunts in 1870

with aching shoulders
in a milliner's shop
near to where I sat,
or for my great-grandfather
one hundred years ago,
perhaps to the day,
driving his hansom cab
past that very spot.

Today I see the stillness
and wariness
in the photo of me
waiting between the paws
of a large bronze lion
for the photo to be taken,
for some indication
that I was free now to move.

Kay McKenzie Cooke