Shaftesbury Avenue

On Shaftesbury Avenue, you were my first love.

We children were the new created star,

You would be the hand and I the glove

Each moment without you like a scar.

On Shaftesbury Avenue I watched for your light

And looked for movement in your yard.

The warm summer days would change to night

And I would wait as though on guard

Against the chance of missing you

And in the hope that you might come out.

Hoping that I might catch your view

And that you might see or look about

Standing, tanned and lean and looking there

My body and soul; oh how I yearned for you

To touch the soft goldeness of your hair

In your summer bed clothes on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Grant Fenton 30 April 2019