ramblings and things
Street Scene
They are digging up the streets,
Red plastic barriers abound
Corralling people into streams
To marshal them around.
The City exudes an air
Of anguished pain
Not being helped by
The day's grey drizzling rain.
The once proud flagship stores
That filled the City centre,
Those once filled emporia,
Once a joy to enter,
Are now at very best
Remnants from the past,
Near deserted aisles making one wonder
Just how much longer they can last.
New, never filled shopping centres
Try to give the City a modern face
But Are now looking sad and forlorn
And, here , tawdry and out of place.
This city that survived the blitz,
Fed the country through its docks,
Now looks tired and exhausted
Having had one too many shocks.
In this pre City of Culture year
This year of disrupted streets
They say the barriers will move
And the work will be complete.
And some of our venues
Quite a few at least
Will be open to the world
For their Culture feast.
So we know in time
The barriers will be gone
Until then we shrug shoulders
And as always carry on.
In the Interchange there'll
Still be chaos and fuss
Because who ever designed it
Can't ever have driven a bus.
The visiting Culture Vultures
In time will feed and disappear
And once again the greedy South
Will forget that we are here.
And, maybe in some dusty depot
A Red Plastic Barrier will tell the story
Of how they controlled our streets
In their few months of glory.
Street Scene iii