Witness
Bright, clear, cold.
Closing the front gate,
there was a youngish black guy,
standing on next door’s steps.
He caught my eye,
came down.
“I know you’re just going out
but can I give you something to read?”
“Not if about Jehovah’s Witnesses”.
He almost smiled.
“Is it The Bible or Jehovah’s Witnesses
you don’t like?”
I just muttered “Jehovah”, felt a little rude,
added, “No offence”
and turned away.
There were two others knocking at the house
on the other side.
I strode off in the crisp air to buy
earrings for my daughter, presents for two
friends at school.
And I fancied some good smoked bacon,
The sort that doesn’t go watery in the pan.
So you can see I did have much better
things to do with my time.
