through dirty windows

 * through dirty windows *
Peering through dirty windows
Of high street shops of yesteryear
Closed up now and counters covered
Dust inside multiplies
Dead flies litter window ledge
No sense of how these once formed
A busy community hub
Financial centre of commerce
Jobs for those in nieghbourhood
Head of shop traders influential
Councils stocked with high st shop keepers
Now the mega-multi-stores
Empty barns of flourescent light
Dominate our shopping time
Have little time for local community
Serve on no boards
Only part time or casual jobs to offer
Neighbourhood recieves negative returns
On dollars into corporate pockets paid
They slew the high streets with efficiency
Decimated shops from end to end
Ended careers and destoryed value
On the High Street strip
A past glimpsed through dirty windows.