In this green and pleasant land...

In this green and pleasant land...

Broken carrier bags

Float on a ragged breeze

Pretending to be more

Than leftovers

Sorry faced balloons

Bounce over a deserted

Playground

Derelict laughter

Drowns in dirty water

Where dead fish

Play cat and mouse

With an unpleasant hunger

For blood

A wooden swing

Creaks but ghostly

Lost in shadow

As the sky cries

Real tears

For the loss of its soul

The smokestacks

Belch in bellicose relief

As a backdrop

To the performance

Of a homeless man

Tripping the light fantastic

In a nightmare

Of balletic proportions

Where neediness

Is passe

He is out of step

With the times

Marshalling his defences

Against the elements

Beating a retreat

Into the shelter

Of a toddler’s slide

In the corner

Where he can be reminded

Of the way

Things used to be

Before he slipped

Off the world

To land

In an abattoir

For the wretched

This woebegone place

He once called home

Some still do.