My mind has been released on bail

pending further enquiries.

Liberated, it walks with me

through the gates and onto the streets

but before wandering further 

 

it surveys, just for a minute -

the football game in the alley,

the blackbird's therapeutic chirp,

the slowly trickling riverbed,

the sky awash in orange-red.

 

It feels a multitude of things - 

Weary, tentative, curious.

It knows there's no place for it here 

but wants to savour this moment

while still holding some self-control.

 

This is what it will hark back to 

long after the football game's stopped

and the blackbird has gone silent

and the riverbed has flooded

and the sun refuses to shine.