Business in Bayswater

The river in his eyes
betrayed a past bitter with regret
its flow now helpless
cruel, dark waters
merciless and unforgiving

He had forgotten
how to laugh
and he could no longer cry,
the kernel of his soul lay buried
under layers of lustful, older men--
swept along on a tide of sex
swirling in the flotsam of indifference

Now his family
were the cracks needing plaster
measured out silently in his head
mute familiars gaping down
from the dingy cobwebbed ceiling
They were everything and nothing
and nobody

I paid the money
and he threw back his robe
crouching expertly on all fours
wetted cheeks spread open
waiting for my grunt
and the rattle of the wardrobe door
the signal it would soon be over

Along the hall
Maidy's phone wailed
juddering with the heartbeat of a donkey
most nights it rang endlessly--
even in the recession
he had never failed to pay his rent.