LONDON TOWN

by THE DIRTY WATER

(LONDON TOWN BY THE PURPLE WATER)

 …

Walked from the West End to Streatham once 

we had been out on the razzle-dazzle

Lived there later, I knew London Town

It’s back streets and its souvenir trail

I drew street women in art classes at St Martins

Met the tallest man in Britain

When Holborn, Longacre and Covent Garden

Still showed signs of  the forties war

The Garrick, Queens, Adelphi, Dominion

The theatres were old and cold and lived-in

..

Salt-beef sandwiches on rye with mustard

From the Turkish Bar in Garrick Street

Or the Sandwich-Man with spotless hands

In his tiny shop of mirrors and three bar stools

Hamleys, The Wedgewood Shop down in Regents Street

Turn left at Oxford Circus, up the road

Past Selfridges and the Bond Street stores to Marble Arch 

and heaven, which is Mayfair! – then left again

Down, opposite the Park, where the Bunnies hopped

next to the elegant Dorchester Hotel!

..

So many the places, so many different coloured faces

Don’t forget to mention the art,

Walking over Waterloo Bridge to see the Messiah

Or the Moody Blues at the Festival Hall

The buildings, museums, stadiums and stations 

and the dirty river, must not forget the dirty river

The old, cold river, the colour of liver and onions

or the docks where it all started, this town

On the East-end side, north of the Tower 

and Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich

..

We were St Dunstans kids in Surrey, 

ferried around in a greenline bus

A bus de-commissioned for trips such as this, 

It soon smelled of kid’s travel-sick and piss

Then in the middle of November

In sixties mist with that drizzled rain

A trip to the Docks, its boats, warehouses, cranes

Children of under-11 on a day-trip with Mr Weston

I now know what ‘the Origins of London’ meant

100 miles down from the town, Thames Head

..

                                                                          edenbraytoday

                                                                                         18.11.2020