"Snow Walking"

The Old Kent Road
An insignificance on the Monopoly board.
Suffering the indignity
Of being the same price
As shithole Whitechapel Road
Through the Rotherhithe Tunnel.
Our sixty quid bargain in brown
The true jewel in the boardgame crown
Is a throroughfare that
Holds memories of my past
The ones that esstablished
How lifes die was cast.
The Old Fire Station when it was a squat
That was as good as it got.
All the way back then
I had nothing to lose
Wish I'd been brave enough
To jump in their shoes.
Shake off the shackles of a shit life
No pretence of a distance future
Imaginary 2.2 kids and a wife.
Drinking to oblivion on a Friday night
Down the Gin Palace, out for a fight.
All my long gone mates
Eyeing up the birds
While you were on your first pint
I was well into my third.
That was no life
I just tried to exist
My comfort blanket
Was getting pissed.
There's one flashback
That I hold dear
A rare memory
Not clouded by beer.
So far distant don't know day of the week
Was one winter weather so bleak
It started to snow
Around News at Ten
After midnight I went walkies with my Ben.
Not a boy, but the family pet
Who showed more love to me
Than I ever felt
From my own family.
We went out minus a coat
Felt on cloud nine wanting to float
Such a busy street
But not a soul
A magical feeling
I was in total control.
Middle of the road
Nothing either side
Virgin snow ao fresh
Couldn't slip or slide.
This was my heaven
If there was such a place
Lonely was magical
In this case.
Felt so in control
Of the streets
Not a soul around
So calm inside
I felt a million pound
I wish I could bottle
That inner joy
Never felt it again
Man or boy.
We walked over a mile
To the Cold Blow Lane
I've never worked out if
I was crazy or insane!

Dulwich Poet 21st September 2013

(From about 13 to the age of 27 I lived on the Aylesbury Estate, at the Old Kent Road of it. We had a family pet, a mongrel dog called Ben, from Battersea Dogs home. There was one time when it snowed heavily late at night, and I walked him along the middle of the Old Kent Road, the busy street being totally deserted, as thick snow settled, not a car on the road. I had a sense of inner peace for that short time I don't think I've ever experienced since, the cold not registering, as I had no jumper or jacket, wearing a t-shirt that evening.)