COLISEUM NIGHTS
St Martin’s Lane,
London, 1969.
-
Seán Street (U.K.)
When for five shillings we sat among gods
watching, vertiginous, the small blessed world
staged and glowing, lime-lit far below us.
Never was flute so magic as when it
rose up at our feet, echoing along
the reflecting homeward street, the pavements’
glass, we two aiming ourselves beyond rain
into a life we had yet to invent.
Flying from that great height into the space
beyond us, pure with possibility,
we shared then a perfect trajectory
across unmade days through new-built air
in shapes carved out by no one before us.
For we were five shilling gods, come from sky,
invincible, singing a transcending song
in our own follow-spot, on a timed ticket.
****