"Snapshot"

On the balcony alone
At the Royal Festival Hall
It's all rather windy
So nobody at all.
On my way to football
Plenty of time to kill
So I'm out here in the cold
Trying to chill
Skim reading books in my bag
Sometimes poetry can be a drag
Undisturbed in my own space
No need to rush it's not a race
This is the way I relax
Obligatory can of Pepsi Max.
The complex is packed
For it's graduation
Brightest and brainiest
From all over the nation
Actually from South Bank Uni
Down the road
A woman strolls over
In proud parent mode.
In my direction a camera thrust
Politely asked for a photo must.
How lucky for them I know the score
I love taking pictures so click off four.
Hand it back pleasantries said
Time to crack on, stuff half read.
Manage a sly glance
From the corner of my eye
I can see they're pleased
As they bid goodbye.
Out of curiousity
I ask her class
In which subject did you pass?
English Lit, a good two-one,
Making me wonder...
What I could have done.
My only 'O' Level
Was at English 'B' grade.
If the clock could turn back
And I wasn't school clown
Could that have been me
In mortar and gown?

Dulwich Poet 9th October 2013

(I was sat in a chair on the open air 5th floor balcony, at the Royal Festival Hall, finishing off the four poetry books I was about to return to the Poetry Library. I was asked to take a photo of a proud mum with her daughter, on graduation day)