Poem: Child Playing Football At Midnight

There is a child playing football at Midnight
In the park
In the dark.

The beat of the ball bouncing
Back and forth
Echoes round the empty square.

Each resonant thump
Thumps the surrounding flats:
Residents turn in their beds,
Mutter curses,
Think of morning and work.

But there is a child playing football at Midnight
There in the park;
He
Or she is lonely, oh so lonely
That they cannot sleep.

27 June 2011