December

The iridescent rainbow swirls and eddies

In the water that runs across my path.

Sparkling and shifting under the metallic

Gleam of the steel grey sky.

The gaudy painted van drives

Along rain sodden streets, it’s jingling call

Echoing between raindrops and promising

A taste of summer.

The flashing lights suspended over bustling

People, reflect in shop windows, and offer

A promise that is ephemeral, tantalising,

And demanding consumption.

Spend, spend, and think not of the cost of tomorrow.

Live for today, for tomorrow will never arrive.

And then when today becomes yesterday,

And the credit card statement arrives.

The grey skies weep crocodile tears on the 

Queue for the money lender, and the loan shark

Circles and circles in the polluted pool

Of poverty.

(c) 2ndwitch, 01/12/11