Proud City Father

take me by the hand and lead me through the streets
 of this old city that i thought i knew so well
 but it's forever changing, the faces, the accents
 like the traffic lights directing rows and rows of
 dirty buses, black taxis, people rushing home to their own important lives
 not caring about anyone or realising
 that they are part of something so much bigger
 take me by the hand we'll go down to the river
 and see the energy of nature now tamed and used for
 our amusement and commercial ventures
 tread carefully through broken glass and dogsh*t
 watch your back against the setting sun
 the place comes alive with twinkling lights and limousines
 expensive shoes, designer labels and matching accessories to die for
 but we can't follow the fashions of this city
 it's best left to those in the know
 take me by the hand we'll head out to the west
 and see what the wealth of the city has created
 rows and rows of lavish houses, landscaped gardens
 an air of emptiness wrapped around the middle classes
 there's safety in these streets
 no rumblings of violence felt across the ghettos
 just a sandwichboard headline of reassurance that reads
 "the property boom rides high!"
 but down beneath the westway a young girl prepares to sleep
 under a binbag
 like this city
 cold and alone
 take me by the hand we'll find our way east
 past boarded-up shop windows on dark rainy streets
 clashed cultures reacting to living together
 in towerblocks with views over the city's square mile
 so far from their grasp
 but in a one-bedroomed flat at the top of the world
 a young boy sits plotting world domination
 i'll take you by the hand and lead you through the streets
 of this old city that i love
 through rotting corpses of enterprise where society once stood proud
 now just a shell of it's old self but still with a beauty unmatched
 through tourist traps and royal flags
 past homeless beggars and wealthy moneymen
 through leafy parks and walls of steel
 fly-postered streets once full of
 burnt-out squats now recycled as
 unaffordable living complete with ensuite
 and all the echoed whispers of history
 and it's still calling