Long Way Home

Set on the cracked up streets and roads, I took the long way home that night Past the strings of shuttered glass With steel blinds padlocked good and tight Beyond the walls of scabbing brick, I rambled past the church burned out, Upon the privet hedges path That twisted, curled and writhed about. Through muddied pools that glittered slick, Down to the subway dark and cold, Emerging in the febrile light From distant houses growing old. And on towards the empty school, Up the hill above the rise, Where childhood dreams suspended still As dead things left to fossilise. Down avenues with crescent views, Then to the left and to the right, To start the journey once again, I took the long way home that night.