A Shower of Rain

The good ideas that didn't work,
the spinster who taught maths and Greek,
the boarded-up, what was once a corner shop,
those passing through, those who make do,
the well-established, the little palace,
the family home, the them and us,
the completely refurbished, the new build,
the closed National school, the wind
down entries, the instant sunlight,
the sound of music, the endless traffic,
the steel grid on the parlour door,
the dark street of solitary trees,
the monkey puzzle, the bulging hedge,
the cemented-over, the minimalist look,
the climbing roses, the hanging drapes,
the dickey-dy-do's, the rickety bed,
the flaking paint, the box room,
the rustle of a newspaper, a noise next door,
the snaps of mother and father,
the wakeful, the troubled, the early riser,
the timber floors, the young one's car,
ferns in the backyard, the rapid skies,
the original fittings, a shower of rain.

~Gerald Dawe