Men & The Bees by Hafsah Bashir

Multiple metastases presented last night

Entering full bodied arenas silently

No one noticed the casual invasion

My watch waited for kids to come home

Eyes pinned open against a grainy image

Near naked torsos spilling through doorways

Many pink balloons soared through sky that night

Early risers drifting towards a different horizon

No child wilfully ever lets a string go

My Manchester did not buckle from a bomb

Everyone like kith and kin to one another

Negated the flint of hatred as they stood together

Mothers opened arms wider, the homeless were life savers

Each taxi driver, a beacon, each doctor, a saviour

Night shook the bees awake and we created honey

Masses of bright flowers now, carpet St Annes Square

Epitaphs not of stone but petals and soft bears

Names, like sacred whispers float through fragrant air

The soft orchestra of buzzing bees soaring above

My Manchester did not buckle but grew stronger with love…

© Hafsah Bashir

Read more #westandtogether #Manchester poems here