Well Warm Wool

Socks and shoes, what a bloody to do
Especially when it’s humid, or tepid, or temperate too
But when the weather gets wet
Or decrepit
I stick my trousers in my socks and my socks in my shoes
And I lose that nip, that whips, whistles right through,
Round my ankles
Thank my socks and my shoes
Not sandals
Or the weather, when mangled
Tangled tip to toe in fabric
That I’d hate to lose in this deluge of walks on
Rocks and stacks of stocks and socks and shoes
And flocks of threaded foot and patched up holes right through

It’s no use, to keep the hems right out
They flounder back inside the socks
What bunch around my ankles much
From breakfast raining through till lunch
They keep me warm as cherry tart,
Spinning, spawning woollen warmth within my feet
And neat … inside … my … heart …

My socks and shoes
And love of chilly pubs and booze
They tuck my ankles up tonight, today
And brandy keeps the cold at bay
I lay my feet together now;
Like windowpanes in wet weather
Downed and blue
My dry-tucked trousers
Tucked up in bed
With my body too
My warm old feet
That meet
My socks and leakéd shoes