Bliss
A quick lunchtime snack
in the mall food-hall
(steamed rice
with something nice,
she checking her iPhone,
I letting my eyes roam)
leads to a short dash
by me to the men's.
On the way, oy vey,
what catches the eye
but a young couple
full-length on a bench
not munching lunch
but each other.
Toe to toe, hip to hip,
shoulder to shoulder,
tongue to tongue,
lip to lip,
hands not on show
but somewhere below,
both of them no older,
I'd guess, than sixteen.
Bliss is it in this hall
to be young
and paired off.
Considerately,
others nearby
avert their eyes -
myself excepted
and a child pointing
saying to her mother
Look mummy,
is that naughty?
don't they look funny?
Today is the last day
of the holidays -
back to school, kids,
tomorrow, ain't that the pits!
I and my wife own
one old and one new iPhone,*
and she right now's
texting a virtual friend.
There's virtuality,
and there's intimacy,
and there used to be privacy.
And there's me
spying with my little eye.
*she speaks to Siri:
I'm lonely…
Her robot voice replies:
If you say so.
Max Richards
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