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Isabella Strachan

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London Underground Map


Between the gutter and the rail,
between the platform and the street,
between the reading and the print,
between the shadow and the light,
between the waking and the dream,
between the future and the past.

Now here an inclination stems,
and leaves its trail in green or red
(or plum or brown, yellow or black,
violet or later grey or blue).
Due north to Harrow, High Barnet,
far south across the River Thames
to Oval, Lambeth, Waterloo.
Due east beyond the White City,
through Oxford Circus on to Bank,
and west to flower-wreathed Kensington.

The businessman will clinch his deal,
the lover meet up with his lass,
the tourists find their way around,
by green and hill and vale and park,
by grove and wood and oak and bush,
by garden, square and lane and road,
by cottage, manor, farm and cross.
From times of field, hedgerow and down,
when Vauxhall was a pleasure ground
and larks sang over Camden Town.

Page(s) 37

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