Stone Lions - Grasscut

At the dusty road’s divide

We took the left fork for a mile

To reach a black cast iron gate

And as the rusty hinges yawned

Through the trees we saw the path into the old estate

Stone lions alone can’t keep us out

While eagles and crows are sleeping

We followed the road open mouthed

We watched as the old place breathed its last

Yellow diggers in a row

Cough back into life and stretch

To gulp the dusty sunlight

Through the rafters through the brick

Chimneys fall and push the past

Out through the broken skylight

Stone lions in rows, rising up

In driveways and private gardens

Stone lions alone, guarding us

From gargoyles and long lost pardons

Stone eagles and crows flying off

To new and forgotten places

Stone lions alone staring out

Into our newborn faces

Stone gods creep across the terraces

Keystones and backstreet places

Dust, fossils, and mud perishes

Into our newborn faces