Neighbour

NEIGHBOUR 

Dear in-hock-for-a-lifetime  

Suburban, anonymous, pebble-dashed,  

Pre-packaged-dream-house Neighbour of mine  

I have not got a clue about you  

What your name is  

Where you hail from  

To whom you belong  

Whatever it is that you do  

Though I am more than familiar  

With the cursed electrical dirge of your shower  

That moans through brick and cement in between us  

Every workaday morning of winter  

In the draught-ridden dark before dawn  

And I have come to forgive you your musical taste  

In the best left unsung  

For mine is as poor  

While Sepultura rock out of your Pod  

Tiffany herself goes on soiling my Zen  

And Neighbour, I must confess  

That when I’m out in the yard for a smoke  

I sometimes peer over your fence  

And spy through your blinds 

How the grey outlines glide from table to couch!  

Such mystery! Such grace!  

Like a swan in the mists of a moor!  

Like a deer in a twilit oak wood!  

So, Neighbour of mine  

Fellow drudge, fellow drone  

Fellow white-collar bee in a dormitory town  

You who snore and make love,  

Gobble and belch, stain and wash up, as I do,  

In the same white-washed,  

Breeze blocked,  

   Ten by eight rooms,  

Moving through time to destination unknown  

Do you ever wonder  

When your back’s against the wall  

That mine might be too?  

Yes, that mine will be too…