If my old man
said to me
on Sundays

do you want
to go to church
with your uncle

or go up
the West End
with me?

I'd usually say
up West
there I liked it best

the bright lights
the arcades
the pin-ball machines

the chance of popping
into the a feature film
or see cartoons

or have a Cola
and ice cream
and see all those

odd people
on the streets
some singing

some sitting there
giving it
the big stare

but sometimes I’d go
to the tabernacle
with my uncle

and sit there
and sing hymns
or sit and hear

the prayers said
and people smiling
at each other

or being kind
and opening doors
or just being

what others called
being Christian
but most times

I went up West
and had a go
on the pin-*****

or drank Cola
or watched
my old man

eye up the girls
outside the cinemas
or theatres

(******
I later thought
and later knew)

but what's
a 8 year old kid
to say or do?