It’s a lovely open space
Clapham Common
Walked around it on a Christmas day
Played football many Saturdays
In the Seventies
Enjoyed a pint
In the Windmill Pub
Said morning mass
For the convent nuns
The days when I was young
And making hay
It’s the flight path into Heathrow
In the sky
Red London buses
Trundling on by
Busy streams of traffic
But quiet on the green
Paths lead round the bandstand
No band seen
A place for common life
To be enacted
Resource for local people
Every one
Sailboats on the pond
Football training too
Walk the dog
Fly a kite
Open space for you
Sarah was walking home
Along the Common
Been to see a friend
Share some wine
Happy home and family
Life is feeling good
Just along this road
Be home for ten
Now we know the horror
Gruesome story
Doesn’t bear repeating
Just too sad
But I repeat her name
Her loveliness her fame
Her name is Sarah
Sarah Everard
Brian Fahy
9 July 2021
Erris Poetry 