Down Memory Lane

 

Trams trundled along the centre of the road

as whistling kettles sounded a cup of tea

People queued outside cinemas as human snakes

with a policeman directing a swarm of black cars

Streets pockmarked with the shrapnel of war

vacant spaces between buildings where buildings once stood

Cobbled streets of Victorian days to rumble over

buses, trams and trolley buses traversed the city

Prefabs erected on bomb sites as new posh homes

steam hissing from the funnels of trains

A high explosive bomb had taken away the roof of the Market Hall

roast potatoes and chestnuts on braziers at its gates

Tobacconists nestled between a parade of shops

in a sepia world of brown and grey shades

Gas street lights lit by a team of council workers

and fogs, dense fogs joined to form sinister smogs

It was only a lifetime ago, a glance over the shoulder of time

as I was there to see it all, to smell and savour its essence

Now all is transformed as the past has given way

to glass towers, neon lights and tarmac roads

Glimpses of past times remain remembered by a few

but all will soon be forgotten and lost forever.