We Sleep-walked in Cemeteries of Neglect

We sleep-walked
in cemeteries of neglect,
where soot was the common factor
binding us to buildings
slumped
to their knees
by the imposition
of successive fogs,
where industrial chimneys
spewed
dirty profit daily
down our throats,
and anytime,
for a reminder,
you could look up
to see who the city’s God was,
and watch the rusting skeletal hull
of the gasometer seep through the smog:
a tombstone awaiting names.