Journey in Slumber
“Window Seat Dreams”

Cavendish Road, Carlton—
same seat, same window,
engine humming like it knows me.
I look out—
and the houses don’t stay houses for long.
They rise…
into mountains I haven’t climbed yet.

Carlton Hill—
the bus slows, people shift,
but I’m already somewhere else.
In my head, I’m standing taller,
seeing further,
becoming someone I haven’t met yet.

Mansfield Road—
traffic, lights, the stop-start rhythm.
But in my mind,
it’s a river—
wide, endless—
and I’m learning how to cross it.

Sherwood Rise—
names I’ve heard a thousand times,
but today they sound different.
Like stories.
Like places I could belong.
Like a future just waiting for me to step into it.

City Centre—
everything gets louder, faster, closer.
But inside—
it’s calm.
Because I can see it now—
not just where I am,
but where I’m going.

Market Square—
the doors sigh open,
and I step off like everyone else…
but I’m not the same boy who got on.

Because somewhere between stops,
between looking out and looking ahead—
I found it.

A glimpse of who I might become.

And even now—
standing in the middle of it all—
I’ve still got stars in my eyes.

By Paul Baldry (LongJohn)

My poem is themed around my younger self—those quiet bus rides into town, watching the world drift by through the window. In those moments, I wasn’t just a passenger; I was a dreamer, imagining who I might become. It captures that space between reality and possibility, where simple journeys carried the weight of my future—my hopes and the unseen paths ahead.

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