For Natalie

 

‘…Youth and I are housemates still’

Coleridge

 

Youth and age, yet what unites us still is this:

We both know to ask for skinny milk and watch the

Calorie count on the cakes and pastries;

 

And we know that they never ask you if you

Want small, only ‘Medium or large?’ and that

If you say thank you, they say ‘Enjoy your drink’.

 

And we know to always produce a loyalty card

And to tell them if we’re drinking in and where the

Loos usually are with their scent of toilet blocks and oranges.

 

And we wonder why the staff keep pulling that cord so that

They can enter the toilet and what happens if you’re in

An embarrassing position when they burst in.

 

And we know we’ve paid enough for our coffee to be able to

Rent the space for a short or long while to read or

Chat or look at our Kindle, or our laptop or phone a friend.

 

And we know to shut out the loud guy with the pink tie

Who’s having a business meeting next to us or

The street people who sneak in to use the facilities.

 

And we know it’s more polite to put our empty cups

And plates back on the tray so that they can be collected

And to put our chairs under when we leave.

 

In this day and age, Natalie, what unites us is stronger

Than what divides us: for are we not equal before the dark red roast

In the place that is both nowhere and everywhere?