The Walk

I walk alone the evening streets Past tired terraced houses stuck Together like sardines in a tin Tiled roofs with lonely chimneys Pointing skywards like soldiers on Guard duty. Dusk sees gulls going Home after a hard days scrounging Picking up leftovers from magpies Sleepy houses with hidden contents People living their lives behind 26 Inch TV screens just chewing gum For the mind, such total banality I used to walk with Clara my Labrador Now retired and rests at home dreaming Of parks beaches and other treats as Nights cape begins casts its dull shadow I walk up the hill around the corner And past the pub where friends gather To forget their day past the church now Empty of hope and down the long hill That great onion in the sky shines down Mockingly shifting lazy tides causing Them to bulge in obedience and casting Shadows full of hidden intent as I walk Home is but a heart beat away