It was built where the Great North Wood
Lapped against London – rus in urbe
Dairies, market gardens and clay pits
Farms and then houses, a suburb
The railway arrived – brick villas
Clustered thickly around the station
Goodbye to the telegraph and horse
Victoria dies – a coronation
They started our house and finished it
War came. Light fell across the wall
Millions were born. Another war
Footsteps and shadows. Voices in the hall
Radar, the bomb, nuclear technology
We breached sound but not light
Daily, the sun flickered across the wall
Marking the passage of day and night
All those years, no-one noticed
Stars or geology; soft words were spoken
Voices in the hallway rose and fell
They will do until our light is broken
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