For George

I was walking past this place this morning and stopped to look at the sun playing on black. A small voice interrupted me. 
'Can I talk with you, please? I'm lonely.'
Just behind me was a person whose voice and body took up almost no space at all, who seemed indeterminate, hollow.

We had a long chat about the things they used to like - carpentry and gardening - and how the energy has gone. About the things they used to do after that - watching the people packing food parcels in the church - but being asked to leave because they were getting in the way. They didn't have the energy to help with the packing.

They asked me for a hug, and we hugged.

Then they pointed out with pride the tag, 'for George,' on the wall. They'd got chatting to the artist and that was his response. Now George comes out to look at it. 

I said that I'd got chatting to the artist too, and he'd also painted a tag for me (story here and image uploaded as an extra). I showed it to George who was delighted that we had that in common. 

We chatted a bit more and before I left we hugged again. 

I've met many gentle people in need who've not felt entitled to anything and who've been overwhelmingly grateful for the smallest attention but never anyone like George, so almost not there, as if made of air.

I'm sure I will find George again, here, standing in front of that tag. What a kind way to bring a lost person into being.

********
The whole poem on the wall, about the lively, anarchic and constantly changing road in East Oxford that I moved to be near, is:

Slowly slowly
Cowley Road
See the people clutch control
Safety in the green cross glow
Restore the calm. Let cycles flow
Slowly on the Cowley Road
Narcotic and organic meets
Greenery and artful streets
Eat the globe in one square mile
Become another xenophile
Stop a while and say hello
Namaste to all Nepal 
Cześó to all the Poles
War and famine in the world?
Here's your destination child
Asylum Welcome. Independents
Raising aspirations!!!
All are welcome. Always have been
Workhouse poor and those afflicted with
Disease, disorders and addictions
On supposed lowly Cowley Road
Where good things come
To those that know
This leper-heritage
Tolerance zone
As home.


Restore is a mental health charity.
Asylum Welcome is the charity I used to work for. Raising aspirations is what I used to do there.


More about the poet, Steve Larkin, and the poem (especially some of the references) here. 
Edit - I can't make that link work so for anyone who wants the info, especially me in the future, I've copied and pasted it below:

"Slowly Slowly Cowley Road was a poem commissioned by the Cowley Road Carnival to be part of a mural that celebrates the culture of this vibrant stretch of street.
"The mural was painted by talented local artist Andrew Manson (Mani).  Mani is passionate about releasing more public walls and spaces for public art. 
"The poem was designed site-specifically and points to the culture and heritage of the area. 
"As you approach the mural on the wall at the end of Leopold Street from the Cowley side going towards Oxford City you pass the site of the first settlement in the area, that of Bartlemas Chapel, a former leper chapel, which has a remarkable history of welcome to the afflicted and rejected. The hospital with its chapel was founded by Henry I in 1126 and was rebuilt in 1329. The hospital had accommodation for twelve lepers and a chaplain and was built in quarantine, well outside the eastern city walls.
"Just beyond the mural is the chemist that at one point was one of the biggest dispensers of methadone in the country, just opposite the health centre which was built on the site of the former workhouse.
"The poem aims to celebrate the culture of the area which is characterised by tolerance, care, and creativity. Charities such as Restore which does great work in mental health (as well as providing a beautiful serene garden space) and Asylum Welcome are specifically celebrated as is the general wealth of multiculturalism, and the mural succeeds in saying what a limited word count tried to say, namely that the Cowley Road is a culturally vibrant place with an impressive heritage of musical and other artistic expression.
"It’s where Jim Thomas and myself started doing Hammer & Tongue gigs in The Brickworks (now The Library) and then The Zodiac back in the noughties, it's where Catweazle has created a stage for a multitude of performances for many years, it's where my band Inflatable Buddha played to many bouncy smiley citizens of the The People's Republic of East Oxford and it's the home of one of the best carnivals in the world.
"I love it, and owe it so much.
"So thanks to Mani for a huge stint of work and for bringing his brilliant visual mind to the piece and to Johannah Aynsley and Cowley Road Works for facilitating it.
"It will, hopefully stay there for a few years, I invite you to take a bit of time to sit on the wall opposite and enjoy what Mani has created."
Steve Larkin


This is not the mural Mani painted. You can see the original here.