A supermarket checkout in a station

Amid the general bustle,
both inside and immediately beyond the continually sliding doors -
Hundreds of shoes
on polished stone,
Rail announcements
on a booming tannoy,
Distant traffic outside
stopping, pulling away -

I attune my ears to two similar sounds:
The bleeps from the barriers
as hasty passengers swipe in and out
or thrust tickets in and grab them;
And that of the till scanners,
as I leisurely pass my items of shopping through,
the bleeps here pitched just a little lower.

The first from the barriers from afar are chaotic,
progressive, repetitive,
sometimes one or two in quick succession,
sometimes several all at once.
The second from the scanner, close, deliberate,
and occasionally accompanied by others to my left and right,
or a mechanical voice intoning some instruction.

Listening to this duet of both bleeps,
I play my till scanner, improvising,
delighting in this distraction while I shop.