Jubilee

The bunting droops
Like the lower lip of the fallen clown
And the litter froths
From the battered roadside bin.

Teenagers with jeans half-mast
Flag drunkenly for cabs
As neighbours soak up
One-off episodes of TV Soaps.

Gushing rain,
Waves of painters wash
Wiping livelihoods
And summer smiles away.

Subsides then stops
Leaving rivulets
Paths disappearing under sodden leaves,
Like dirty sheets being pulled down below.

Stick-on numbers fall
On headless mannequins
To the shop window floor
In front of crowds

Backs turned, stretching necks
To follow the passing parade
A glorious memory
Of fading ceremony.

March 2014