Our Town

Clean streets, clean shoes
Clean vats
Clean drains
Dirty beds
Stained stairs
Open windows
Panes broken
Fans in labour
In empty rooms
Lights dim
In classrooms


Clean river
Dirty banks


Clean sleeves
Dirty hands


A child laughs
In joy having
Stoned a dog;
A dog cries
Losing its leg
To its father’s
Wheels.


The Spaniel
Laughs, at the
Window.


Despair not,
Man,
You’re clean,
I’m clean,
We’re fine.

NOT A CYCLE WAS LEFT

Everyone and everything is gone,

I lie alone under my blanket--

Shying away from the world

Of suffering, of giggles,

Of disease.

Not a cycle is left

To take me to you.

Outside I hear people singing;

Some having fun:

Inside, my mind is drowned

In my panting and sneezes.

I suffer alone,

And calls me none;

Nor can I see you.

Oh, alas, not a cycle is left

To take me to you.

Life seems a burden

At times, when I

Can’t see your smiling face.

Oh, when shall the day

Come again,

That I shall peep

Through the gap beside my door

And see you smile

Miles away,

Asking me to come,

Meet you?

But no hope today!

Not a cycle is left

To take me to take to you.

I hear bells ringing just outside--

Rings that toll my death

Perhaps you shall come

You shall come and smile

You shall come and smile and call me

You shall come and smile and call me and find me dead.

You shall find me dead.

My body still can’t reach you,

For, not a cycle is left

To take me to you.

In my last dream

I cycle

I cycle hard

I see you at a turn

Smiling with your friends;

A lorry comes hurtling by

And smiles me to death.

Thank God,

Not a cycle is left

To take me to you.