I’m passing on the pavement and
through the shop window I watch
a barber and his customer both
transfixed gazing into a mirror

The barber’s head is slightly higher
than his customer who is seated
but he’s bending his head to fit
inside the framed reflection

The freshly trimmed beard, shaved
back and sides, all his own work
the customer galvanised by 
his own image mirrored back

two men transformed

That moment when a new haircut
is briefly life changing for both cutter
and customer and then it’s gone
and I’m gone along Jackson Street 

to catch my bus, head down, into
the wind, carrying this image with me
this perfect moment, cutter and
customer locked in mutual admiration

all our hopes on a haircut