Morning, Liverpool 8

In Blackburne Place and Canning Street
the terraces half-wake,
stretch their balconies;
cast-iron railings, Ionic columns
blink into daylight from
a nightmare of bulldozers,
dripping water, charred beams,
distant dreams of hopscotch,
hoofbeats on cobblestones. The mirror tells
of a bright new face, does not reflect
the past neglect. Hope Place
and Huskisson tell of the nightmare
almost gone.

from Wish You Were Here. Published by Jonathan Cape 1990.