peaceful

I sit on the balcony

for a long long beautiful moment I sit in perfect peace

the planes are not flying overhead, the underground trains are not going overground on the bridge to the east, the traffic is almost non-existant on the road bridge to the west; the piazza below me is empty of screaming children, laughing couples, delivery lorries

I close my eyes and soak up the warm late summer sun

and then, gradually, it is as if the world around me wakes

the planes change their flight paths and a steady stream of them fly overhead, a couple of trains pass each going in opposite directions and they cross in front of me; I can hear a police siren and that of an ambulance, cars are suddenly bumper to bumper and the drivers toot their horns, buses - three, of course - trundle along; mothers spill out of the cafe and their children shriek with joy as they are let loose in their urban playground, someone's mobile goes off and I can hear its ring tone - that of an old-fashioned telephone; a cyclist on a bike with with a squeaky wheel cycles across the square below me and a lorry spills it contents - beer barrels - noisily in the street to the south

I open my eyes, stretch and come in to make my coffee