There were so many

So, so many, too many to count

None of them did count

Discarded with equal disdain to distant craving

Once they were wanted

Now they were less than rubbish

 

Soiled and used up

Like many that had used them

Now, no one cherished them

Destined not even to be brushed aside

Caught in a state of limbo

Between detritus and gutter trash

 

They ebbed and flowed

Along fences, among flowers

Once white like Snowdrops

Now ashen like the ash they were

Their tiny lives ended

Stubbed out, burnt out

 

Among the burial grounds

Of those that would bury others

Lay the DNA traces of other lives.

What could the cherry red lipstick tell us?

Did she mean that last kiss?

Or maybe it was his?

Speak to us saline stain

Was he late for work,

Did he feel the strain in his chest?

Again. One more drag won’t hurt

Was the bus on time?

Is that why you’re so long?

 

And you, squeezed so hard.

Bad day at the office?

Breakfast conversation not so good?

Maybe the team lost again, who knows?

Two draws and an away

That was all you scored

 

So many empty homes

So many empty beds

Scattered among the soiled and abused

Now bereft of their gaiety

Identities washed away

Faded promises disintegrating

 

The rusty wire fence,

Claws at you and yours

Pinning you in your place

Preventing you from running free

Even at this low ebb

You know your station

 

You don’t even smell

You’re just there, and there

Pointless, like a broken compass

You are the least of the worthless

Where will you go from here?

Nowhere, that’s where