"No Talking At The Back"

How times change
Gone is the embarrassed
Tube shoe shuffle
Desperately trying to avoid
The commuting cardinal sin
Of-no,not getting too close
As a light fondle is part of the game
Taking care not to grope-
It's not the done thing to stare
Into their eyes directly!
Peeking down cleavage is fine
As is imagining how
That bulge below the belt
Would expand in your hand.
Think dirty, but never body
Language or worse still real
Language! No talking!
Then they would stare
With that saucer size eyed look
As you would expect committing
The commuting faux-pas
Of opening your mouth wide
Not to yawn...but to chat!
Perish the thought...
Conversation with a stranger
On the London Underground!
Are you trying to kill off
Rush Hour Crush in the Metro?
Distract yourself, if not a  paper
Modern fancy gadgetry can help.
An 'Apple' was something
That kept the doctor away
'Blackberry' was jam you put
On your toast for breakfast.
Now they are electronic
Invisibility cloaks that shield you
On the way to work.
Speaking is for unsuspecting
German tourists
Who ask for Lye-Ces-Tar Square.
It might be seventy years on
But the Northern Line
Is not the place
To mention the War
Don't they realise
That down on the tube
Careless talk costs lives?

Dulwich Poet 22nd July 2013

( I wasn't sure where this poem was going, to be honest. I started scribbling it on a packed train to work, when two other passengers started talking, the bond being the woman sitting down with her had her dog with her, so the animal was the reason to talk, not two strangers being friendly on a train)