1066

I gave up flying when I realised

That queues and shopping malls

Were never mean to be part of the means

To get from here to there

And I spent more time

Waiting to be bullied into line

Than ever I spent moving in the air;

And now, on train to Bristol, it's the same -

A crowded carriage, stopping all the way,

Because the train's delayed before it gets

To Acton - something about signal faults again -

Yet everybody seems to think it's normal

To be hemmed like rats, pretending we're alone

Back in the office, even though the phone

Is banned - thank God - within this Quiet Carriage.

No wonder even with the price of fuel

Many prefer their cars - it seems less cruel.

Brian Hick December 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 23.12.23

 Brimsdown

The weeping willow by the station house

Droops towards the level crossing gates;

Workmen boarding up the waiting room

Roll on the matt grey while he waits

The usual late arrival from the East.

The palette-works behind the down line clank

Against the latent blur of Radio One

Though he's oblivious as his earphones blank

Reality, white Metro keeps his mind

On Harry Potter, Horoscopes and Sport -

Anything but sense what's really there

At half-past seven, before the day was wrought

          Its dullness on a soul already lost

          To all the brightness life at him has tossed.

Brian Hick 2009

©copyright Sally Hick 8.7.22