Spine-tingling railway sleepers --- 

Sleepy houses lying four-square and firm 

Orange beams divide the darkness 

Rumbling fit to turn the waking worm. 

Sliding through Victorian tunnels 

  where green moss oozes from the pores. 

Dull echoes from the wet embankments 

Battlefield allotments.  Fresh open sores. 



In late night commuter madness 

Double-locked black briefcase on the floor 

  like a faithful dog with master 

  sleeping in the draught beside the carriage door. 

To each Journeyman his own home-coming 

Cold supper nearing with each station stop 

Frosty flakes on empty platforms 

Fireside slippers waiting.  Flip. Flop. 



Journeyman night-tripping on the late fantasic 

Too late to stop for tea at Gerard's Cross 

  and hear the soft shoes on the footbridge shuffle 

  as the wheels turn biting on the midnight frost. 

On the late commuter special 

Carriage lights that flicker, fade and die 

Howling into hollow blackness 

Dusky diesel shudders in full cry. 

Down redundant morning papers 

Abandon crosswords with a cough 

Stationmaster in his wisdom 

  told the guard to turn the heating off.