When the policeman came I was in the kitchen
I heard the front door opening and then his voice
Your son is in the infirmary, he was knocked from his bicycle by a large wall that fell down as he was passing.
Every hair on my head stood up like a bristle
Next we were at the Royal infirmary
Mam runs in and sees my brother; she starts hitting him
That’s all I remember but it was lucky in a way because the people responsible gave him a new bicycle
No one in our family ever had a new bicycle even myself when I was teaching at the university I had a second hand bicycle.
Was I waiting for a wall to fall on me? Well it’s too late now because I can’t see but I can’t stand up easily but if someone lifted me I could ride a bicycle.
There was some law that we couldn’t have anything even when we needed it and we stuck to this law most of our lives but never worked out why.
How my heart sings 