Pearl
A cloud follows her dressing gown
Across the street towards
The ice cream van, where
He sells early death rewards
Fags and booze a-must as
Graham sits with a tin
while Victoria, his daughter
Kicks fences in.
Ian shouts obscenities
While running from the law
And Sharon’s boyfriend Carl
Takes a sledgehammer to the garden wall
It’s easier to drive the cars onto the grass
The Bricks have sealed their fate
He laughs grinding them down, his thinking absurd
Instead of simply opening his gate
The council daren’t enter
For hassle and abuse
Even though they own these people
Telling them aint no use
Forbidden to leave the garden threshold alone
I observed and listened to the sound
I sat there wondering why my Grandparents
would condone the insanity that encircled around.
But it never crushed their spirit
No word of a lie
It was the council who did it.
Justice served– Never for the good guy.
Too proud to leave a loving home
With family always round
There stood a hardened couple,
Steel-caps firmly on the ground
My Grandpa was fearless and
Tougher than anyone I knew.
They lived their fifty years
His strength, never broken-through
They hid my ears as best as they could
But I still heard some words.
Hurrying in my Grans hand
from the bus stop they would shout awful slurs
Eventually the day came when the time was up,
Though it was not the troublesome teens
It was governmental close-up
Down came the order to see Ash-grove demolished.
And any sort of public-contest was firmly abolished.
The news came hard, forced from their home
The first time I saw their fear
Memories of their whole lives, immediately unsewn
Broken was their final frontier.
It’s the people, not the materials
What’s wrong with brick and mortar may I ask?
An new estate to rebuild;
Such a mammoth task.
Rid the persons,
Not the Bricks,
It’ll just worsen
I firmly predict.
Who ever thought to punish the good
In amongst the bad
Things never went the way it should
For my Mam’s, Mam and Dad.
Shrouded amidst Council deceit,
Mistrusted and betrayed as the houses began to fall
Creating broken echoes down the street.
Two upstanding pensioners who once had it all.
I write this with heavy heart,
Their forever loving Grandson, we do love them all
Fond memories, struggling with a fresh start,
All of the above I witnessed sitting on top of their garden wall.
(2014)
Society, North-Eat England, Government's disregard for its own people.
