Long queues snake in the heat
Choosing life consciously
Outside the turnstiles of Wembley,
Red and white wrapped around
Faces bright with sun and expectation
As though the whole island had stopped
For an endless summer bacchanale;
And the half-empty high streets, sun-faded
Signs above Woolworths and Smiths
Boys in baggy jeans booting *****
Between parked Escorts and Cavaliers,
The electric low culture
Cans of Tango glinting, and the pubs
Still wide open all day
And some countryside unchanged regardless
Of its verges blurring into new-builds
And Satellite dishes gazing heavenwards
Where field mice once lay snuggled
In England's deep time, and
Czech au pairs and Polish builders
Awake in big houses with small attic rooms,
The lights blinking off modems;
Never such innocence
Never again that edge
Of unexamined certainty,
In history being at an end
Without a word - ravers
Were brothers, fields left untidy
The endless encounters
Dissolved within a moment
Never such innocence again.
https://allpoetry.com/Mcmxiv
3d ago
Jun 2, 2026 at 4:08 PM UTC
Long queues snake in the heat
Choosing life consciously
Outside the turnstiles of Wembley,
Red and white wrapped around
Faces bright with sun and expectation
As though the whole island had stopped
For an endless summer bacchanale;
And the half-empty high streets, sun-faded
Signs above Woolworths and Smiths
Boys in baggy jeans booting *****
Between parked Escorts and Cavaliers,
The electric low culture
Cans of Tango glinting, and the pubs
Still wide open all day
And some countryside unchanged regardless
Of its verges blurring into new-builds
And Satellite dishes gazing heavenwards
Where field mice once lay snuggled
In England's deep time, and
Czech au pairs and Polish builders
Awake in big houses with small attic rooms,
The lights blinking off modems;
Never such innocence
Never again that edge
Of unexamined certainty,
In history being at an end
Without a word - ravers
Were brothers, fields left untidy
The endless encounters
Dissolved within a moment
Never such innocence again.
https://allpoetry.com/Mcmxiv
