Third century

Old red rattler
lurching down to the city,
late-running, defective,
tired and rusty.
Passengers on platform one are advised…
but will it be good advice?

Descending into greyer layers
we pass that black water,
that brown sky.
We did it,
transposed the northern grime,
remade it all in the image
of distant forgotten towns.

Two hundred years on,
the old red rattler
staggers and curses
like a drunk
in a suburban back lane.