Fire At St Elmo's

O Zachary,
if you could have seen
the grocer's burning!
If you could have smelt
the smoke
as it left the fishmonger's
in thick dark lengths!

We saw aubergines blacken
and collapse like the Reichstag!
We saw tins of pilchards
blast shards
and brine haze like Pearl Harbour!
We watched ale easy
from ruptured kegs
in the wine merchant's; our eyes
traced dark fluid
as it ran like a map route
to the gutter's lip.
You should have been there, Zachary,
pawing sweat from your sooted brow.

People, Zachary - they're so brittle.
How can you stand in line
at bus stops
when every morning
you still find charred paper
trapped like leaves
in the folds of your jacket?