An Ode to Town

An Ode to Town

Places hid beneath the grime
Disguised in neon light
An oasis lost and found in time
Blinking in the night
An X to mark a treasures place
The same as all the rest
The city’s heart, it beats a pace
Enlightened are its tests
Enlivened are its subjects
The ones who call it home
The ones who see the subtext
The ones who like to roam
The ones who keep a beady eye
For those who keep their nerve
For those that don’t slip where cracks lie
Those who have the verve
To swim with horses in the sea
To fly with birds so high
All you needs, the air you breathe
The desire just to try
To wander northern quarters,
Or charge through China Town
A bull in Deansgate’s waters
Drinking in Canal Street’s sounds
From Piccadilly Gardens
Oxford referenced streets arranged
To begging bowls we harden
No corn, it is exchanged
A symphony of sleeping bags
Bittersweet, a village gay
An opus fraught with flying flags
The joy division plays
With dreams of a new order honed
The chemicals are burned
Drugs don’t work with roses stoned
And happy Mondays earned
In nights, where grime, it gleams, alludes
With treasure yet to find
A story told in neon tubes
A fortune for the blind
As Kros fall to Allotments new
Skies turn blue with Devil’s verse
The city’s heart beats red and blue
For better… or for worse