"Locked-in Love"

No matter where you go
It's something you immediately clock
This new sign for love
Engraved on a padlock.
Now bridges are collapsing
Under this emotional weight
Symbolising that 'seven-year-itch'
Now that's what I call fate. 
It's such a simple idea
Probably invented by a padlock shop
Great to boost profits
Until the bridges drop.
Affection for tight gits
Cheaper than flowers and chocs
Though you'll need to buy a hacksaw
When your relationship hits the rocks.
How many women will be locked in
Unable to break loose
Public love chained to a bridge
Behind closed doors it's abuse.
Perhaps I'm being cynical
Never had a partner to care
But even if I ever did
There's no way I'm going there.
If you love someone just tell them
Stop vandalising our sites
Show them you mean it by shagging them senseless
When football's called off on winter nights.
What happens when it's all over
You're locked in forever more
I suppose it could be worse than that
I'm sure you know the score.
In the old days it would have been a tattoo
Your names inked through a heart
That relationship with you forever
Long after your fresh start.
Now when loves goes cold
It's only the padlock that will shiver
As council workmen cut them off
To end up at the bottom of the river.

(Dulwich Poet 22nd February 2016)

(I wrote this, after seeing some more of those bloody stupid padlocks stuck on bridges in Hamburg)