'Moscow'

Igor Verkhovskiy was awarded a Commendation for his entries to the Senior Poetry Prize. Here is one, on his home city.

'Moscow' by Igor Verkhovskiy

My low house is hunchbacked and withered
My old dog is long dead and gone
On the Moscow streets hung and withered
I was promised to die by God

I love this city of rags and rages
Though in dirt it drowns and flops
Golden, drowsy Asia
Has ingrown on the churchtops

When the crescent at night is shining
When he's shining Devi knows how
I would walk with my head low lying
Through a sidestreet to a pub known and foul

Noise and brawl in this lair brooding
And as night flights from dusk through dawn
I read poems to hookers
Drink with those that should make me yawn

My heart's pacing faster and faster
And it's now that I say out of turn
Out of you lot I'm the lost one
I am at point of no return