Peckham Vision

Peckham’s creative visionaries

Spread their dreams like missionaries.

They can see how streets might be

Fit for living comfortably,

And how Rye Lane might once more rise

To dazzle Southwark’s peerless skies

Architects like O’Looney, Ben,

Look back to the old days, when

Carriages served Georgian beaux

And pretty houses stood in rows. 

(Charles Henry Driver’s railway station 

deserves especial contemplation).

While on Rye Common angels appear

To loitering mystics walking near

And eco warriors seek salvation

in low emissions and loft insulation. 

But there is also some of us

Who don’t want to make too much fuss,

For in the vision that we see

Peckham’s the mess it ought to be

It’s dirty, edgy, lively, arty, 

A place to shop, a place to party,

A whole world in one square mile, or more 

From Frank’s to Khan’s brilliant bargain store

There’s only one thing for which I’d make a plea:

Somewhere in Rye Lane to have a pee.