Outside

Outside

Hidden from the main road

Behind the factory

Where the old machines

Extruders and braiders

Spinners and twinners

Lie like beached whales

Rusted bolts as bulbous as barnacles

Emrys Brown’s gears

Fused together

Empty reels piled high

Overgrown with

Grass and bindweed

A reclamation team

For the rebirth

Of the wildwood,

Young indentured apprentices work.

A battered dumber truck

Has become home

To a family of Sparrows

Never far from the leftovers

Of a teenage boy’s lunch

Ham sandwiches with hot tea

From a thermos flask

Carefully stowed behind the seat

Of a forklift

The sun hides behind

A water tower

Smoke from a cigarette

Curls up

To blend into the heavy cloud

Which seems to get lower

By the second

Washing all the colour away

Into the grey of another cold autumnal day

A splash of yellow

From a crack in the concrete

As a Dandelion holds on,

Clinging to life

Featuring as clearly

Against the harsh landscape

As the orange of the tabards

The young apprentices wear

To highlight their progress

Through the landfill,

Following their instruction

To pull out anything useful

Before the digger

Is called in

To finish the job.

Landscaping the mound

Gives it the appearance

Of a burial chamber

An old English Barrow.

Grass will grow

Dandelions will proliferate

And nobody will be any the wiser

For a while

Until the factory closes

And the land is sold

For a housing development

It will look lovely

A sea of mellow yellow

An English garden

Dancing in the Milky

Early morning sunlight

The apprentices will be long gone

Along with their innocence.