London can be a lonely place at night
When walking around you see the lost ones plight
You can hear the occasional scream of a possible fight
As people wander around after closing time
You see the lights flickering from neon signs
Occasional cars pass and dazzle and blind
Your sight as you try to process this night life in your mind
You can pass the woman on the street turning tricks
Or see the desperation of those with drug habits
And all around you can see the dark walls
Of the once long ago Victorian buildings that seem to call
Out names of those long gone as if they remember
Those souls who were once started out as sparks
Before becoming dying embers
And which faded away into ash
I swear I can sometimes hear those voices here from the past
As I walk down the narrow dark alleys and then start to pass
Along the length of the river Thames
The rippling waves also hide secret stories beneath them
Everywhere there is a story to tell
London can be for you a place of heaven or hell
It depends if you live on the streets or within the grand houses
The night around me it carouses
Within my head distantly with its rhymes and it’s songs
But only in burst that aren’t long
Before the peace of the night it returns
Like a spectre or a ghost from the past
Chilling my bones and leaving me feeling aghast
At the history and all the stories and tales
Of old London Town and the sound of its laughter and wails
Of the bright lights and dark places
The celebrations and desperate faces
Two sides of life so extreme that can be both uplifting but can also be mean
Especially to those floundering down on their knees which are there to see.
Image courtesy of Pinterest
I love the way you filled this poem with such humanity. I enjoyed reading this piece.
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To meet all with compassion, that is the true trick…
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