Journeyman Lyrics

Spine-tingling railway sleepers
Sleepy houses lying four-square and firm
Orange beams divide the darkness
Rumbling fit to turn the waking worm.
Sliding through Victorian tunnels
    where green moss oozes from the pores.
Dull echoes from the wet embankments
Battlefield allotments.  Fresh open sores.

In late night commuter madness
Double-locked black briefcase on the floor
    like a faithful dog with master
    sleeping in the draught beside the carriage door.
To each Journeyman his own home-coming
Cold supper nearing with each station stop
Frosty flakes on empty platforms
Fireside slippers waiting -- Flip.  Flop.

Journeyman night-tripping on the late fantasic
Too late to stop for tea at Gerrards Cross
    and hear the soft shoes on the footbridge shuffle
    as the wheels turn biting on the midnight frost.
On the late commuter special
Carriage lights that flicker, fade and die
Howling into hollow blackness
Dusky diesel shudders in full cry
Down redundant morning papers
Abandon crosswords with a cough.
Stationmaster in his wisdom
    told the guard to turn the heating off.