speakers' corner

lend me your voice
your ears, your heart,
speaks the podium
standing in a corner
of that verdant green.

no, not in Hyde Park.
where voices play tug
between light and dark.

but here -
in the heart
of a bustling street,
heading home,
growing
upon a soapbox,
stands a voice
leading the rest,
with no frills
or favours,

just a quiet reckoning
of all that is,
where every voice
is heard and received
and takes turns to speak,
in the crowd,

the speakers' corner -
lived unarmed.