The Faithful
Clad in starched and shiny best,
once-a-week worshippers snake towards the tower,
drawn by its glingle-glongle call.
Their line is punctuated by static carriages, where,
slumped in back seats
or perched on heavy batteries,
the immobile, no longer self-propelled,
sit like summer dogs in hot cars,
and await a steady arm.
For few are young,
even merely middle-aged,
and it seems that being old means
last-chance hedge-bets,
gambling precious days on an afterlife,
eyes flinty as the walls they hope to enter.
Dave Hubble is a regular performer at events in the south of England, and can be found running a variety of writing workshops. As well as Ink, Sweat & Tears, he has been published in places such as Zoomorphic and Maligned Species, and blogs at davehubble.wordpress.com. His first collection is entitled Subduction Zone, and people seem to like it.