Leaving London

This road is getting weary
It sags beneath our feet
It sighs as its miles groan
It curves gently and quietly weeps

It knows somehow we are leaving
As if it can hear us breathing
Our unlaid plans and damaged dreams
Sucking them in like vapour
Its black heart beating down a heavy sun
It knows, somehow, its time has come

This town is getting lonely
It misses us too soon
As if we’ve been away too far
Like winter sun to summer moon

It shutters its doors upon us
And we break, like so many a promise
Of unpaid dues and I love you’s
Tearing apart like paper
Our deep hearts pounding like a kettle drum
Fists beating its gates like a Gatling gun

This world is unforgiving
The earth has skipped a beat
We land inside our brother’s keep
Bringing oil to bathe its feet

But It knows where the winds are leading
Which towns will be receiving
Our battered bones and shanty songs
Our patches and parrots and silver coins
And sometimes, sometimes it stirs a breeze
To fill up our sails or occasionally
Its iron heart might just melt a degree
And swallow up a small part of you or me

February 2012 Derek Wilson

~ by Derek Wilson on February 28, 2012.