No Haven Now

Staid people broken
Falling in the gutter
Muttering vile nothings
To condemn them.
No haven now
Sings this roar of disaster
No haven now
The wind is our only master
The hard gutter our sepulchre
Our peace is fear.
Limbless babies
Love to cry
And try
But rainwater numbs them
And death overcomes them
And tired men with bottles
Lie throttled.
And agonised traces
Appear in their faces
Now death is of life
It is no haven now.

Sebastian Hales.