THE DOME (after Coleridge )

THE DOME

In North Greenwich did Mandleson 
A state pleasure dome decree :
Where Blackwall, the infernal tunnel ran
Through Thames mud, measureless to man
Down to Bugsby's Reach.
So half a mile of foetid ground
With strings and wires were girdled round :
And there were no gardens no sinuous rills
But a Giant Bubo on a Gaseous peninsular
And here were yellow pylons piercing
This shallow meniscus.
And Oh! That deep ventilation shaft
protruding and evacuating poison
Through this Tent of Inanities
This sunless place ! As unholy and misbegotten
As e'er beneath the looming tower was planted
For a bemused people awaiting a win on the lottery !
Five Fat Eels meandering with a mazy motion
Into the dark Thames they swam
To reach Tilbury and the estuary measureless to man
And sink and slither into a lifeless ocean
As far from the tumult was heard the sound
Of ancestral voices prophesising War !
Proclaiming shame.
Prolaiming shame!

2000