parade

took a fall he said how can you think at a time like this i said how can you not? thinking is for animals that need shelter and you've got it all and he walked with a limp did you know i once led a parade through the streets of london down the mall i was 8 years old i was holding a sign i can't remember what it said i think some kind of bomb we were making my parents were by me shoulder to shoulder, a child's width apart i was in the news there were so many people i was numb it was winter i remember the bark of the trees was bare, white peeling into black or the other way round did you know the trees absorb the chaos they listen he said friend of my fathers spoke to me like a television presenter spoke to my father like a soldier or a general whilst we sat in the park people with the drumming and dancing and fire some people wearing nothing someone had been swimming i saw the slickness of his hair on the light of the fire he was happy with himself and his friend who was a girl seemed so happy to see him i wanted to pull at the grass but i didn't want to remind myself of my age for that night i was older