This was written over a year ago, Leeds is even more silent these days… the picture is a recent sculpture placed outside the Henry Moore Gallery, it made me smile.
Extinct
Sometimes I cycle home a different way
As if to take it by surprise, and see
This used to be a town of striking clocks-
That sounded the quarters, halves and hours
Newspaper sellers sold their wares to flocks
Of folk out shopping, there were flowers
Too. Rag and bone men rattled down the street
But now the city seems almost swept clean
Of historic sights and sounds I used to meet,
Extinct, no longer witnessed, no longer seen.
Perhaps one day I’ll take a corner fast
And ambush a Leeds I thought was past.
