Bucks Row

 

gaslight lamps

cast pools of sickly yellow

and the cobble stones

glisten with evening rain

a smell of burnt stew

drifts in with the stirring

of fog and smoke

that wraps your legs

in cobwebs and candyfloss

a street sellers distant call

proclaiming hot chestnuts

while a dog pisses

against a bollard of black iron

blood spills from an alleyway

and gathers in the gutter

mixing with night soil

curtains twitch

ghostly faces peering

into the street

the hollow footsteps

of a copper on his beat

just out of reach

around a corner

the manor church

tolls for midnight

as the world holds its breath

 

silence

 

then the tap tap tap

of a blind mans cane

making its way

down Bucks Row

the screech of a knife

dragged against a wall

sparks raining into puddles

the impression of a scythe

and the cowled demon

who hides in a doorway

poor Polly steps

into the dark

and the autumn of terror

has begun…….