Shoes

 

Have you ever had a pair of shoes

Shoes you never wore

That you bought to change your life

But they just sat behind a door

Or languished in their box within your ‘special’ drawer

Like so many broken dreams

Empty shells of might have beens

 

How they yearn to hold some feet

And travel on the tube

All those other shoes to meet

Perhaps to shine into the night

Under public transport lights

And stay up late, maybe to dance

To scuff against a parquet floor

Rub a toe until it bleeds

 

Walk where famous soles have trod

On what they call a boulevard

Or crush some busy insects flat

On a warm day in the yard

When hot feet like to sweat

And stain the lining wet and dark

Just to stretch and to be loved

To fit their owner like a glove

 

Perhaps on vital business trips

They could raise you, raise the bar

Their bloom could seal the deal

An extra inch, a cuban heel

And in crucial interviews

With new employers much esteemed

When feet can say so much

It was the candour of his shoes!

 

Take some feet on a first date

Eyes that scan from head to toe

And say, ‘I’m sorry, I must go’

Later on she clicks to rate

‘He smelt okay, he held a rose

It wasn’t him, I liked his nose

But I was forced to flee the date

When I saw the porkpie edge

Of his shoes so inappropriate..’

 

To kick a stone along a road

At midnight in the rain

Tread some double yellow lines

And sink the heel into a drain

Sink some more, commit a crime

Have the toes wear down and fade

And in the station stand in line

In an identity parade

 

Get old, evolve a musty whiff

And get thrown into a bag

With some sad, discarded clothes

Tracksuit pants, Le Coq Sportif

Bundled into a white van

Frightened, weeping for their feet

Or quiet, resigned in their despair

Driven down a bumpy track

‘Dead White Mans’ Shoes in Pairs’

 

Would be a higher ranking fate

Than being forgotten in a drawer

Tired labels on the sole

As the purchaser grows old

Goes up several waist sizes

Different images and guises

Now just a shred of hair to lose

And that is only on his toes

He sighs and ask himself

‘Why did I ever buy those shoes!’