Bent Reeds and Rusted Grasses

Bent and Rusted

Yards not
As filthy
Now
As when people
Lived
On them.

Now, steeled,
Less curious,
Slates,
Ties and granites,
Tendered
More silenced
Provided with
Full security,
Stern walls,
Weighted wire.
Bent reeds and rusted
Grasses

Winter
Stained in diesel
Roughed dusts
And fog
There are houses
For conductors
Engineer
Tenements
Railway men
Live amongst
Us here.

Behind
Guarded
Plots of vacancy