SIDMOUTH AT NIGHT
Anthony Robottom
Blue-blacked under white light,
Wandering through eerie-shadowed
Nether worlds, past the flurescent,
Pungent sanctum of the Chinese
Chip shop. All the shops blankly
Blacked for the night.
Occasional meetings with couples,
Short-lived happiness, with a girl
And a drink. Can't remember their names.
A tramp, kipping out on a bus-stop bench,
Clad in castaway clothes,
Threadbare, blanketed with yesterday's
Headlines. Here tonight, gone tomorrow.
Red fireflies racing away.
Met by white ones; opposite engine roars.
Muffled chatter, oozing under the doors
Of inwardly-lit Horses, Swans, Anchors,
Mermaids, and finding their way down
Over a pebbled beach out to sea,
Whilst the sea comes up, hissing over
Loose cobbles. A threatening tirade of
Omnipotence. Only I am listening
To its fanatic roar, and turn away
Back home over the liquid-lead,
Glittering river, quietly babbling
Down to the nightly ignored, roared
Briny channel.