Abandoned Poem by Angela Wybrow

A door slams:
An echo fills the air –
This once busy sales floor
Is now completely bare.

For Dad and I, a visit to Woolworths
On a Saturday morning was a must –
But now this first floor sales space
Is empty and full of dust.

I remember when it was full
Of children’s laughter and excited chat,
But sadly there came a time
When it kissed goodbye to all of that.

I remember a time
When girls and boys
Would rush upstairs
To purchase new toys.

But as I walk through
This spacious room,
All I’m surrounded by
Is silence and gloom.

To me, it seems sad
To see the place this way –
In a state of disrepair
And slow but sure decay.

As a customer at Woolworths,
I saw this space bathed in light,
But now, as an employee of their successor,
I just see a sad and sorry sight.

The red and cream coloured flooring
Is the one thing that’s still in place,
But with walls stripped back to bare brick,
This space now wears a different face.

On the ground floor,
There’s now a bargain store,
But the first floor sales space
Was not required anymore.

Its very life has been sucked out;
Its vibrancy has disappeared,
The space now lies abandoned;
Its fixtures and fittings all cleared.

In life, this space
Has just one goal –
To make itself useful
And fulfil a new role.