Dead town – an elegy
21 February, 2008
In dead town, plastic bags circle and twirl in dust storms,
Discarded fast-food confetti lines the windswept streets –
Concrete aisles wedding all to forlorn hopelessness,
The emptiness of an unconsummated dream.
Seagulls squawk and caw, tussling over piteous scraps,
Their grey plumage obliterating any sense of self.
There is blood coursing in their youthful veins,
Yet their eyes are nought but blacked-out holes.
Faceless buildings and concrete plains dominate the
Shattered remains of ignored reminiscences,
Urging all onward into a lifeless future;
The only clarion call a strangulated scream.
Neon sunshine flickers through the embracing smog,
While rats and foxes cling to the bleeding shadows.
They watch the herds drifting by the desolate shops,
Picking their targets from the smashed-out souls.
At night, they bicker and fight over nothing at all,
As they drown their minds in their fractured dreams.
They rage and froth in a storm-tossed ocean,
But all is calm in the morning comedown.
You can never escape this urbanised oblivion.
The walls that imprison are built high inside the mind.
It is the perfect poison for the seed of ambition,
Shackling all to the neglected dead town.