Hometown Blues

Today I had the Beatles music
Playing on my mind
Like the paperback writer I want to be
I got a ticket to ride
To Leeds' City Centre which
The bus's path dictates
Then greeted on arrival by
A million pet hates
The smell and over crowding
Every noisy bustling lane
Removed much of my enjoyment from
The people watching game
Parents smacking children's bums
For doing childish things
Knocking out their youthful innocence
Shocked by the tears it brings
Big issue vendor without a home
But a constant smile on his face instead
Viewed by many as scum who looked
At him as though they wished him dead
Hooded youth goes striding by
Some place he needs to be
He glances up from mobile phone
And nods his head to me
Some time has passed this timeless state
For which I have no care
Dinner time mass of pretension surrounds
I crave to be elsewhere
Toward the stop to catch a bus
For journey homeward bound
But now my head is throbbing from
This heavy wall of sound

Copyright © 2007 Matthew P. Nicholson

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