On Flagstaff Hill


Echoes of boredom in the hinterland noon
With humanity pressed under the blazing sun
A man is waving a flag, a Union Jack
Billowing like a sail doing a tack

One storey houses laid evenly square
One story lives are made heavenly there
Each house an Eden garden in itself
Why worry how the neighbour builds the shelf?

If I plant a rose on the left who stares?
If I put a hose up my nose who cares?
The guy next door does look a lot like me
And like me he sees the world on Tee Vee

Before the Tee Vee, we were down the pubs
While the kids cycled home yelping like cubs
Where the young mums dutifully served tea
Then waited naked for the drunken spree

Sheilas, they were called with dry inflection
They learnt the reasons for all the attention
And when the sufferings of Eve were redeemed
They got dressed to conquer what they had dreamed

Two two storey houses stuck side by side
Two story lives with not much left to hide
Stop and stare with the elbows on the sill
At something they left behind on Flagstaff hill
 

Roma, 28 10 2007