Room For One (Poetry)

The Victorian house converted from a family home
to half a dozen cheap but lonely bedrooms
each door locked for privacy
ensuring isolation
even though the grubby bathroom
is out of sheer necessity
used by every one

The windows at the back get little sun
all year round the electric lights are on
to try to add some cheer —
see off the gloom
yet loneliness spreads from room to room
that creeping cold a symptom
of the old bedsit malaise

Few stay long — eke out their doleful days
until luck changes — better times ahead — leave
no forwarding address
a moonlight flit
rent owing — an abandonment of debt
the sudden vacancy snapped up by a fresh face
that soon greys to fit the decor
singled out for this affordable small space