Child in the Café

Sat in the toy corner,

withdrawn from the

conversations around him.

He opens a world of

imagination, where the

wooden blocks are

windows into his own

world.

The lights above his head

are giant stars that move

with the hurricane of an

opened door.

He has little past to linger

into dark rooms, only the

magic of an uncluttered

mind.

For a moment, he closes

his eyes, not to shut

out the light, but to peep

beyond the sky's horizon.

He takes no clues from

what has been, his thoughts

are new born from a soul

that is still free.

There are smiles from those

who look on, but what he sees

remains secret.

Though his world will be broken,

when memory's shadows dim

his bright lights,

and his imagination will wander

to what might have been.

Rowland Hughes is a Welsh writer and poet. He was born, and lived until his late teens, in the Rhondda Valley, from where he still draws most of his inspiration. He worked as a Master Decorator and studied trades in the construction industry. He later became a Local Authority Assistant Surveyor. Due to ill health, he retired in 1997. In 1998, he joined a Cardiff University Creative Writing Group. He loves to observe people, places and nature, writing in bustling cafés and the confines of his writing shed.