LET THE LIGHT IN
Let the light in/For a 9am meeting/an anxious first date/a 2am dance floor/and all the things you haven’t celebrated yet birthdays and baby showers/hen dos and weddings/engagements and christenings and New Year and/Christmas/her graduation/an A* in Maths/retirements and leaving dos/getting man of the match because we’re leaving the house for more than just/exercise/we’re going for a paper but staying for a coffee/as the shop front shutters roll up/ when was the last time you surprised him? locked in for 16 months but when was the last time/you bought him flowers/doughnuts/box of Indian sweets/huge bag of samosas and why not go out tonight?/Schitt’s Creek will still be there tomorrow/because we were made for more than living room/keep fit/more than working from our beds/more than insufficient bandwidth we were made for posh dinners/getting dressed up/huge pizzas/tiny 12-course tasting menus/ burritos on benches/greasy fingers hasn’t she grown?/do you fancy another?/shall we go somewhere else?/there’s a place on the corner/a table by the window/for just you/you and him/all of them/your best friend/the love of your life/you just haven’t had the courage to ask her yet so one more round/and one more song/until the lights come up/until the credits roll/shall we while away the hours/trying to find the perfect birthday present/because last year she spent it alone and hasn’t it been tough/and don’t we need to be kind/and don’t we deserve it/nice things and good hair/the shoes you said you couldn’t buy because you’d/never wear but look at you now/stepping out of the taxi and on to the street so one more drink/and one more song/until the lights come up/until the credits roll because today will be different/there will be no pyjamas/just the nostalgia of spontaneity/the nostalgia of mates we can talk without freezing/without buffering/ without mute our homes have seen too much of us/our sofas would like a rest/so go out tonight/go find your friends/on dance floors, on bar stools/in theatres, gigs and bowling alleys feel the sizzle of skin/the ripple of laughter/the faces of strangers kept too long in the darkness we were not made for dining room discos/for sourdough starter kits/we were not made for loneliness/we need this and so do our high streets/these corner shops and boutiques/these pockets of trinkets/of chickpeas and candles/t-shirts and gin this is what makes a city beat/these caverns of interest/these crafted displays/filling windows and doorways/and corners of Lanes they’re not run by wallmart/not some faceless exec/they’re run by our neighbours/our family, our mates and they’ve held on by the skin of their teeth/shop keepers used to conversations over counters/the steady flow of feet/suddenly having to master Instagram/sponsored posts and takeaways so that while the doors were locked/these rows of shops/wouldn’t fade away/to ghost towns there is time for desks and day jobs/for slippers and dinners in front of box sets but now is the time for stepping out/for a 9am meeting/for an anxious first date/for 2am dance floors/all the things you haven’t celebrated yet so one more dance/one more song/until the lights come up/until the credits roll.