65. Baltic at Balfour Place. (December ’14)

Back in December some words came to me as I walked from the Bluebird Cafe to Leith Walk, not all of them all at once, just some of them. I found the rest later on when I was warm and cosy. Those few words that did step up to the pate while on the hoof were enough of a distraction to keep the mind off the cold while I mused on words about….well, the cold.

I’d had my breakfast in the ‘bird,
Been sitting cosy in the window,
Smugly safe from the chills,
At this sconnery in Canonmills,
But once I’d got me scone to go,
Then it was time to get along,
Along the road and then some more
Keeping walking it’s too cold to pause,
Just leaving the park heading up,
Up past Balfour Place,
And nicely square in the face,
Head on comes the wind,
Meeting me on it’s way down,
Typically, it goes straight through instead of round,
It’s racing towards Pilrig Park,
In this the season to be stark,
When I’m at Cambridge Gardens,
Another winter wind hits me,
And this one is a hard one,
And that first wind,
Certainly had lots of friends,
‘Cos I’m not far from chilled through,
At Cambridge Avenue,
Yet the walks been so short,
Since I left the parks green grass,
But the walk that goes through Leith,
Is so close now the names of shops can be seen,
I’ll take shelter somewhere soon and get a heat,
And leave the wind alone,
Tear arsing across Leith Walk,
To talk in gusts and chatter with someone else’s teeth,

I’d had my breakfast, in the ‘bird,
Got my scone, in the bag,
Then it was time to get along,
Along the road and then some more
Keeping walking it’s too cold to pause,
Just leaving the park heading up,
Up past Balfour Place,
Then head on,
The wind meets me on it’s way down,
Racing towards Pilrig Park,
It’s the season to be stark,
Another bitter winter wind hits me,
Again square in the face,
Then I’m at Cambridge Gardens,
And here comes another one,
And I’m not far from chilled through,
At Cambridge Avenue,

Comes another,
Only this one goes straight through,
Finally I make it,
Leith Walk,
Just time for a deep breath,
Before it restarts it’s game,
Of quick quick slow,
Slow
Then I’m at Cambridge Gardens,
And the first wind,
Must’ve had lots of friends,
‘Cos here comes another one,
And I’m not far from chilled through,
At Cambridge Avenue,

About Jim Laing

The Buddha said there were four kinds of people. Those who run from dark to dark, those who run from light to dark, those who run from dark to light and those who run from light to light. From a life going from dark to dark to having a few years running from dark to light, with scuffed hands and knees from sometimes falling, I may be getting the hang of it now. How it began is not now how it is, I need a quiet space, After the noise of the day, So I take sanctuary in the creativity, And my soul feeds, On sometimes dark, Sometimes light fantasy, And I dare like many to work, But stay up off my knees, To dream, perchance to suffer, But always still to dream. Here are things mostly lyrical and poetic, with nonsense sometimes, reviews and personal musings. The coffees hot and always black. The words not necessarily so.

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1 Response to 65. Baltic at Balfour Place. (December ’14)

Jim Laing says:

Nov 21, 2015 at 10:12 am

Reblogged this on It Started In The Kitchen and commented:

This seemed apt as I’m about to repeat this small part of personal history.

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