London

London The tour of London begins In the streets of my mind, Through past and present Intrinsically entwined, Through people and places It's heart we will find, Through fellow travellers And friends left behind. From West End theatres To the cafe's and bars, Round Oxford Circus On buses and in cars, Where rich and poor Peruse bottles and jars On the old market squares Beneath the neon stars. Intricate and beautiful, Woven in rhyme, Delicately melodic, Pure and sublime, Rhythmically beating Perfectly in time, To the bells of bow, How sweet you chime. On speakers corner Free justice calls, For the suffragettes Chained to the walls, Sneers and ignorance From the Westminster halls To the whispering gallery In the dome of Saint Paul's. Innocent naivety, Children who stray, Ragged and forlorn On cobblestones lay, Begging for morsels To survive the day, In the Eastend arches Where harmonicas play. Dirty old Thames Lapping the rocks, Where painted harlots Swish their locks, Coax the sailors With perfumed frocks, For half a crown On the London docks. The Mayfair Gentry Their carriages refined, Regalia and etiquette, To snobbery resigned, Ridiculously wealthy Yet socially blind, The waifs and beggars Out of sight and mind. Trade and commerse, To the city, its life, The hustle and bustle In the ale houses rife, Westminster or Stepney Husband or wife, Make bread and honey For the trouble and strife. Parades at the palace Where the Queen sips tea, Changing of the guard Tourists duty to see, Trooping of the colour With all its pageantry, Pomp and circumstance Steeped in history. To the bloody tower Where the ravens fly, Where heretics confessed And traitors died, The Beefeaters guard The secrets denied In the gallow's tale Of London's pride. Piccadilly to Trafalgar The omnibus mayor, Over Westminster bridge To parliament square, Where commoners and lords Will debate his fare, While the underground Buskers sing for spare. This is my ode to London, My poem, now penned, Celebrates the diversities On which these words depend; "A song for all seasons To your ears I'll lend, And my heart I bequeath To London, my friend."