Docklands

Across the harbour
           the light dips into the water
and dissolves into darkness
           Long ago the gulls deserted these parts
where ships no longer moor
           A tide of people on the wharfs
but their steps do nothing
           to shift the eerie silence
Tall structures of steel and glass
           rise up on all sides :
here even on a clear winter’s night
           the stars struggle
to make themselves seen
           as the anonymous loveless lives below
teeter before being swallowed
           by the shadows

John Lyons