Ghost Towns

 

Somewhere off the data highway

Quite close to router sixty-six

There lies a ghost town of splintered glass

A graveyard of useless stones and bricks

 

This is where the glitterati lived

They used to come in rumbling hoards

Stumbling through automatic doors

they walked the aisles of shiny floors

 

Nothing there now but skeletal racks

Dust settled on the empty tills

The ghosts of Maude and Elsie

The faint aroma of perfume spills

 

You might catch the glimpse of shop workers

In the broken dirty glass

Of counter tops and changing room mirrors

A chilling glimpse of Christmas past

 

When the fat rat left the sinking shop

And took this cities beating heart

He never once looked back in shame

At the forsaken empty shopping cart

 

The fillip of Green and filthy lucre

Mixed with mildew and grime

When the coward left the building

Sacrificing employees for a dime

 

Here is where the threads unwound

Where all that’s left are useless rags

Desolation Boulevard

Of broken dreams and empty shopping bags

 

Somewhere on the data highway

A fashionista buys here clothes

Over the hill from router sixty-six

She wonders where that old trail goes