Search This Blog

Saturday 16 January 2021

Red Shoes

Red Shoes

It’s a strange kind of wanting

An emptiness you could call it

But there is a hankering I have

A longing, a long-held desire

To complete my wardrobe

And fulfil a need I’ve had since youth

But had not the means

And when I knew no better

 

I must have a pair of red shoes

To peer out shyly from my denims

And show the world that I still have some style

And that I am still alive

 

But they cannot be bright or brazen

The wrong shade, not Royal Mail red

But dark as ox-blood, deep as bleeding

Soft, gentle tongues

Lurking beneath eyelets

With laces pulled through

And carefully tied with double bows

Hard soles and calf-leather uppers

To embrace my aging feet

And carry me through

Until I need footwear no longer

 

 Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2021

No comments: