PBPA1

In the future
We won’t speak at all
This will not be permitted
Under law

Scenes now show
Collars pulled up
Heads leant into the wall
No eye contact at all
Those still with homes
Don’t go out at all

The throng of the dispossessed
Keep a steady pace
No expression
On their face
As they trudge past
Those stood by the wall
No one will speak at all

Then, there will be a moment
A random head will lift
From one side of the street
And meet another’s gaze
Journeying the other way

And in that moment
Each will say
If only in their own minds
To avoid doing time

Oh look there goes
A human being
Right there across the street
Still with something left,
Although weak

Remember when we used to meet
Human beings
Share and speak - oh what a treat!

With thoughts now separate
As they each think of those
They used to greet....

But the pain of memories past
For one
Will be too much
They drop their gaze
And withdraw

Bury what they once were
Right down to their core,
Rejoin the trudge
And the moment is lost....


Anna Archichek