Mile End Hospital.

Mile End Hospital.

It was an old workhouse,

In harder times.

So many ghosts

Swirl in the smoke

From the chimney

Above the kitchens.

A hospital now,

It has known pain.

And in its dotage,

Sidelined,

By new techno glass

Buildings, with high speed lifts,

Robotic arms,

And charitable wings,

It drifts gently,

Into the past,

Sinking down slowly,

Crumbling, back

Into the earth

From whence

It was raised,

In Victorian days.

It falls now,

Slipping between

The broken bones

Of an even older cemetery.

A long gone

Jewish settlement,

From before the East End

Arab spring.

Semi-covered,

Moss stained stones,

Once polished and glorious.

All that remain standing

Have seen

Death in their time.

In days

That really were

So very far from better

Then, than now.

But it is a quiet day,

Even the lone Magpie

Flies by in silence.

And the sky is a flat,

Empty shade of blue.

Seen through the window

The world seems

Peaceful,

Picture book London.

And yet,

Just out of sight,

Lest we forget,

Alzheimer's whispers its lies,

And sequesters memories,

As the forgotten ones

Shed lonely tears,

Looking for clues

In younger faces.

Waiting for a visit

From they never know who,

As everyone’s a stranger now.

And the madcap laughs

In a locked room,

On Globe ward.

An aeroplane

Flies overhead,

Going who knows where,

And you are forced

To remember

Other lost souls,

Everywhere.

As on this day

Like every other one,

Somewhere,

Just out of your sight,

Life will carry on,

Regardless.