U  P

UP

The thorough restructuring

            had been so complete

that even those who'd lived

            there had forgotten just

what the place was like

            Each staircase - the floors

the creak of boards & hinges

            The echo of footsteps

what substance of their meaning

            How bay windows opened

onto bright new perspectives

            giving hope to long lost

dreams - newly dealt in the game

            of life & bricks solid

More substantial than the popular

            tradition of clapboard huts

so common on the old frontier

            Varnished grand main door

offering more than security

            but prestige - a self image

assurance A turning from the past

            Yet which - somehow

never seemed to take one further

            No questions of how & why

No answers to indoctrination

            It wasn't just the death

but the character assassination

            which inevitably followed

Which went on relentlessly after

            the 1st shock of the job

lifted the very top off things

            Dumped us without hope

Doubts cast - cohesion crushed

            Homeless in vacant streets

dissuading conclusions of inner

            scheming Sure & Certain

Till even seasoned analysts

            were dubious what was up?