Lines Composed Upon Westminster Bridge,2017 Poem by Ian Elwood

1

I cannot see much on the Lambeth side
but I spot an eye like a Ferris wheel;
it blinks like ours might in this fog.
There are tourists around the second eye
complaining their selfies will not be clear.
"Bloody fog! " They bleat on in Bulgarian.
The second eye is in Westminster and,
like a lifeguard, watches o'er England
with the same confidence as the specialist
who predicted a clear London sun this morning.

2

Those glistening eyes may be the only things
the black garment of this fog fails to cover.
Can't see any towers, ships, temples, or globes
but the eyes are gorgeous and misunderstood.
I get the feeling these eyes, like the child's,
are relatively new to the antiquity of this view.
A Korean family joins the Bulgarian choir
seeking to add to their opus of grumbles.
Wordsworth wrote a lovely sonnet here
but Westminster Bridge is just a pathway for them.

3

An SUV plowed across here four months ago.
The attack injured over fifty and killed five:
a mother picking up her two daughters,
a retired window washer from Clapham,
an American celebrating his 25th anniversary,
a pretty Romanian woman whose boyfriend
planned on proposing to her that day,
and a man who tried to save them all.
All are watched by those two eyes
but I know the towers and globes are still there.

4

Some yellow scaffolds have been erected
to adjust the capital's glassy skyscrapers.
I cannot tell if they're building them up
or making some rash effort to dismantle them.
Either way, the two eyes gleaming through lllllll
the black garment of haze are here to stay.
Let them see the globes and towers
and remark upon the glorious centuries
that filled them with drama and hay.
Let them add a sixth act to our Renaissance play.