“Have you learnt the lesson
Of the mythical home?
The hearth where the paupers
Only jewelry burns..
Without compassion
For those stiff with hunger
Hands red..
Souls icier than a chapel flagstone
Stain glass windows trap light
and colour, but don’t share hope..
Fire flees through an open door
Into a night charcoal black..
As the fires sigh away their last
warmth.
.
Malcolm Paul
Picture Nick Victor
.