Dereliction

Listen..!

Empty dwellings, open doors,

Broken windows, rotting floors,

A derelict street, a scar on the town.

Neat old ladies look and frown.

People’s past living here,

Old and alone, living in fear.

What of their future? No one knows.

The march of progress onward goes.

Little money, little pleasure,

Life for them gives short measure.

Dirty streets, front and back,

Airs and graces aren’t all they lack.

Bare skinned kids in an old tin bath,

Progress drowns them in its aftermath.

Drunken father, sluttish mother,

Wild eyed kids and here breeds another.

Dirty streets front and back,

The lout on the corner will answer back.

He’ll call down a curse on his fellow man

And take out his anger on the stolen van.

(It’s all our fault I’m sure you know

They’re pauperised.....

Hey don’t go!!)