Monday 4 January 2010

The Man In The Bowler Hat

I found a poem in my inbox this morning, sent to me by a work colleague. The subject line read: 'I saw this and thought of you'.

The Man In The Bowler Hat

I am the unnoticed, the unnoticeable man:
The man who sat on your right in the morning train:
The man you looked through like a windowpane:
The man who was the colour of the carriage, the colour of the mounting
Morning pipe smoke.

I am the man too busy with a living to live,
Too hurried and worried to see and smell and touch:
The man who is patient too long and obeys too much
And wishes too often and seldom.

I am the man they call the nation’s backbone,
Who am boneless – playable catgut, pliable clay:
The Man they label Little lest one day
I dare to grow.

I am the rails on which the moment passes,
The megaphone for many words and voices:
I am graph, diagram,
Composite face.

I am the led, the easily-fed,
The tool, the not-quite-fool,
The would-be-safe-and-sound,
The uncomplaining bound,
The dust fine-ground,
Stone-for-a-statue waveworn pebble-round.

A.S.J. Tessimond

My colleague didn't say whether it was a warning or an observation. He didn't need to.

4 comments:

Matt Keefe said...

You wear a bowler hat, do you?

Graham said...

Is that odd?

Matt Keefe said...

Not at all. It's top hats in the cinema that bother me.

Richard W said...

Happy New Year Graham!

Mr Angry of Tunbridge Wells should lighten up a bit - at least he's still in gainful employment. Maybe he could try transcendental meditation?

Hope the ribs are feeling better, but beware! Some of the stronger pain killers like coproxamol and codydramol have unpleasant side-effects that can be more painful than mere broken ribs. Trust me on this one! Drink plenty of fluids and eat plenty of fruit & veg...