[FONT="]Oh deeply missed,you Bull Ring, miscellany of stalls,[/FONT]
[FONT="]A youthremembered, clutching coat hem, wide-eyed.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Wigs, salami,gaudy rings, old shoes, the raucous Brummie calls,[/FONT]
[FONT="]Bouncing off thewalls.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“’ ’andy carrier!”Thickly yelled, and “Apples a pound pears!”[/FONT]
[FONT="]A languageunderstood by all, a Midlands code in grey oldBrum[/FONT]
[FONT="]Co-existent withthe church[/FONT]
[FONT="]Cups of orangetea, chips, prayers.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The big red busesveering madly through the melee, blocking roads[/FONT]
[FONT="]The smell ofdiesel, dripping raincoat, Hippodrome –[/FONT]
[FONT="]“One Night Only –Frankie Laine!” [/FONT]
[FONT="]Peered at throughthe rain.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Lewis’s with itsrubber road and magical roof top gardens[/FONT]
[FONT="]Where Uncle HollyChristmas time dispensed largesse[/FONT]
[FONT="]Along with tinyBrummie elves[/FONT]
[FONT="]Playingthemselves.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Further backagain, the smog, a grey-green poison, part of play;[/FONT]
[FONT="]Where we wouldhide and breathe in death[/FONT]
[FONT="]And smell itsfumes in muffled day.[/FONT]
[FONT="]And creep andgrope our homeward way.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A youthremembered, clutching coat hem, wide-eyed.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Wigs, salami,gaudy rings, old shoes, the raucous Brummie calls,[/FONT]
[FONT="]Bouncing off thewalls.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“’ ’andy carrier!”Thickly yelled, and “Apples a pound pears!”[/FONT]
[FONT="]A languageunderstood by all, a Midlands code in grey oldBrum[/FONT]
[FONT="]Co-existent withthe church[/FONT]
[FONT="]Cups of orangetea, chips, prayers.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The big red busesveering madly through the melee, blocking roads[/FONT]
[FONT="]The smell ofdiesel, dripping raincoat, Hippodrome –[/FONT]
[FONT="]“One Night Only –Frankie Laine!” [/FONT]
[FONT="]Peered at throughthe rain.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Lewis’s with itsrubber road and magical roof top gardens[/FONT]
[FONT="]Where Uncle HollyChristmas time dispensed largesse[/FONT]
[FONT="]Along with tinyBrummie elves[/FONT]
[FONT="]Playingthemselves.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Further backagain, the smog, a grey-green poison, part of play;[/FONT]
[FONT="]Where we wouldhide and breathe in death[/FONT]
[FONT="]And smell itsfumes in muffled day.[/FONT]
[FONT="]And creep andgrope our homeward way.[/FONT]