THE ROSE

Sully

That pub, one on Main Street –

I walked passed there in the rain.
Never noticed the door,
Cloudy windows that revealed
A swelling, forgotten world
Where a group of twenty-four-year-old
Lads are harassed by women
Showing all,
Rubbing up;
Where you can’t take a step without:
’Scuse me,
Mind out!
People crowded from bar to entrance.
Some days, I’ve heard, the whole street
Holds a line up to the Tesco Express.
A home for one-night lovers
Breaking hearts like they were beer mugs –

Not a flower I thought worth smelling.