A book on household plants gently slipped from her grasp
And her breathing became deeper, familiar and calm
And only when she'd shifted her body weight slightly
And sunk her head into the softer of those two duck feathered pillows
Only then did Albert lean over to his wifes side of the bed
Flick the lamp off and then in total darkness
And wearing his trusty blue striped pyjamas
Heaved his heavy frame from his fake slumber
Made his way carefully past the cumbersome ottoman and the precarious shoe rack
Trying not to breathe he was silent, he was stealth
Aware of every creak on the staircase he used her fluffy slippers as a softener
Cushioning each footstep on the way down
At the foot of the stairs was a cupboard and inside behind a secret panel was his costume
He disrobed, briefly naked, guilty, excitingly nude in his own house so late at night
The costume it thrilled him and made him giggle in practically equal measure
Black jeans, black tight t-shirt with the words "iron maiden" writ large
He pulled on his leather jacket and his Doc Martens
And he went out into the cold
Cause you see Albert went out to see rock bands
Stayed up til the morning light
You're only as old as you feel they say
And Albert was feeling alright
A 77 year old man head-banging in a mosh pit can go easily unnoticed particularly when everyone else is headbanging in a mosh pit
And although Albert felt uncomfortable at times, that was mostly due to the lack of give in his jeans
He felt joyful, he felt alive
In fact the louder the music, the more he enjoyed it
This pastime meant for teenagers, he embraced the strangeness
The sweat of a stranger, the thud of a bassline pumping through his veins
At one point Albert threw both arms up in the air
Pulled his two middle fingers down with his thumbs and made the "rock" gesture
As hundreds of kids moved as one, with him in their throngs screaming words to the songs they'd all learnt in their bedrooms at home
When the band finished playing he went out into the street in search of more adventures, revelling in his late blooming teenage rebellion.
Still his clock it ticked on in his bedroom at home
As his wife fast asleep seemingly unaware he was buying cheap cider and eating an offensively large kebab from a confused high street vendor.
He intended to stay up as late as he could, soaking up the motion of cars he got himself lost in a park, played drunken air guitar
And still his clock ticked on in his bedroom at home as he recaptured a batch of his youth all alone
Cause you see Albert went out to see rock bands
And stayed up til the morning light
You're only as old as you feel they say
And Albert was feeling alright
Round 5am Albert found his way back to his street
As the sun peeked its face behind a neatly oval shaped hill, heralding the dawn of the day
He looked up at his house and then down at his shoes, those Doc Martens as dark as the night was two hours before
"Oh this has been brilliant" Albert said out loud
But then he bent down, pulled his shoes off, undid his yellow laces
And he tied them together, threw them up to the sundusted sky
Landing perfectly on the electrical wires like on the streets of New York next to 5 other pairs that he'd thrown there before
He quietly opened his front door, poured himself out of his t-shirt, and his jacket, and his jeans
Found his blue striped pyjamas, crept back upstairs, got back into bed and fell instantly asleep
Alberts wife opened her eyes, looked through the crack in the curtains onto a line of dirty black boots
She smiled to herself, just pleased that he'd made it home safe