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Breathing Space

Like when you set a camera up,
bring an eye to the view-finder
but see nothing, half-wonder
if the world beyond the lens-cap

(still on) is there... Or maybe I mean
the gap you speak into sometimes
between far-off rings when it seems
they've picked up, then it rings again;

or flicking channels, that black-screen
background just as the last ad
gives way to the Welcome Back; that bide
for playing time before Track 1

(is it on pause?); or when you can't
tell if the other's under a bridge
or merely taking time to gauge
their answer. I mean before the count

of Big Ben, of those seven bleeps,
when you've tuned in just to hear
the headlines (three seconds to spare)
and miss the link, the traffic tips,

and catch what can only be the hiss
of shuffled papers, the airwaves breathing:
it's like there's someone there, soothing
you by staying close. There is.

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