The Sun sets behind an unfamiliar skyline
As I aim myself vaguely homewards.
The backs of terraced houses stretch
Towards the clouds, their slate fingernails
Reaching for the last splinters of sunlight.

This city is not one I know...
Like many it is little more to me
Than a dot on a map and a place
To change trains on the way to
Somewhere else. It does not have
The feeling of a destination,
And I feel that it never will.

Perhaps one day I shall venture
Out of London Road station
And find myself overawed by
The wonder of somewhere I never
Really knew existed...though I suspect
That that shall be the only time,
And I will find it to be
Just another city with a few
Pleasantly named suburbs and
A semi pedestrianised shopping centre.

But I don't know that yet, and
Perhaps I never will. So for the moment
I can imagine it as somewhere
With enough character to be the backdrop
For a novel I may someday
Get around to writing.

It would be nice not to have to
Invent a town or even a planet
To be an interesting place to
Write about...but I know
That I don't really have to do that,
And that I've just not looked
Long or hard enough yet.

So maybe one day I will go
To rather than through, and
Discover that I've been missing out
On a jewel in the crown of
The East Midlands for all these years.

03/25/2003

Posted on 03/26/2003
Copyright © 2025 Richard Vince