Poetry Pleases: A Tryst
John Brian Leaver's poem is a vivid evocation of a tired man's tram ride home.
Electric motors hum, permeate to intrude, on seats
of leather, green, stale tobacco and my tired mind
as bogies chatter thro' points to find my homeward line
Blackout curtains open, sway, to give away in glass
my jaded image which says; enough, your bed awaits,
the shift's been long and hard to take
'Spitting Prohibited' the notice says which, from wont, I read again;
conductor extends with curtly nod, my ticket, nothing said,
the rapport of tired men
He calls, at last, my stop, a rendezvous to keep. I watch
the tram's low light give way to the war's encompassing night
knowing that my tots will be fast asleep.
