My Morning Canal Walk Poem by Tony Mushrow

My Canal Walk…(Leeds to Liverpool)

You gracefully wind yourself along, like some blue speckled snake,
A welcome home to water birds, like ducks and swans you make.
My lonely walk to work, you make much better, the council,
I shall write a letter.

You’ve stood the test of time, and met the boatman’s needs,
How tired you must be, to have to stretch, everyday,
from Liverpool to Leeds.

Like an artery, that feeds lifeblood to the heart, you fed our towns, with coal, steele, cotton, it’s a shame, with time, we have forgotten.

The wildlife that lives along your banks, to you canal we should give thanks,
I’ve spotted Herons, foxes too, but some people treat you like a loo.

Old shopping trolleys lie and rust, like wrecked Spanish galleons,
but no doubloons they hold, for these sad silver skeletons,
no one makes a fuss.

Crisp packets fly like willo the wisp, but unlike the ghost lights seen and gone,
These packets will go on, and on, It makes me sad, it makes me weep,
to see the rubbish you must keep.

Why do folk mistreat you so, and in you, they all have to throw,
cans, bottles, and discarded things, they cannot fly they don’t have wings.
Why do people treat you like a skip, old prams, broken bikes,
Into you, they tip.

A white swan lies dead upon the bank, a careless angler she has to thank.
This regal creature, so elegant so fine, has choked to death on fishing line.
How can people be so mean, she has protection of the Queen.
The cob he drifts along, and glances over to his dead wife.
The pain, the agony, the strife, did you know swans mate for life.

Old plastic bags drift by, like ghosts below the water
Haunting us with plastic sin, to frighten us to use the bin.



The End.