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Rolling down to London

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Rolling down to london on a train,

the taught and shining buds

of Spring are bursting on the trees.

Wharfedale’s misted in a bluish haze,

but heaps of plastic refuse in the woods

on the drab periphery of Leeds

descend my mood from buoyancy to pain.

 

Rolling forwards now, the rape fields blaze

and blackthorns bloom with pearls,

resplendent in the boundary hedges

we slice right through, a diesel powered blade

defining who may subjugate this world,

the countryside cake cut in uneven wedges:

a wodge to humanity; wisps to the masses who graze.

 

Rolling down to London, a cascade

of messages are pinging,

pinging on the private chat group:

assemblies already underway;

emphatic demands; exuberant voices singing;

schemes to redesign the social landscape 

as track for Earth’s alternate route is laid.




 

Trainstrain travelLondonclimate change

◄ Tank or tailpipe?

Pause! ►

Comments

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Tim Ellis

Tue 6th Jun 2023 13:18

Thanks for the comments and likes all of you. You may have guessed I wrote this in real time as I was travelling from Harrogate to London in April for the climate demos at Westminster. Three 7-line stanzas over the course of a 3 hour journey is about my rate of writing.

Greg: yes, the Whitsun Weddings was probably rattling around in my subconscious as I was writing it. Larkin was a fine poet but not noted for his activism!

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M.C. Newberry

Mon 5th Jun 2023 09:44

Something about the words "Rolling down to London" brought
thoughts of G.K Chesterton. So many make the journey with
so many varied reasons. It can seem like the tide washing in and out to us locals.

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Greg Freeman

Mon 5th Jun 2023 09:11

You wouldn't catch Philip Larkin going on a demo, Tim! But echoes of The Whitsun Weddings here, all the same ...

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Stephen Gospage

Mon 5th Jun 2023 07:00

Well done, Tim. Keep fighting! The world needs you.

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