The taps are dripping all over the city;
Ladybower is running dry
because its waters do supply
the taps that drip in Sheffield city.
It's no use asking the landlord to fix it;
the rent is all he calls for;
he's got his own house down in Dore;
he'd rather you move than come fix it.
He raises the rent with every new tenant.
We've no choice but live like pigs;
there's an acute shortage of digs -
on the landlord we are dependant.
In Broomhill and Walkley, Nether Edge, Darnall,
we're jammed in with rat and fly,
the taps drip, the floor's never dry,
Crookes, Heeley and down in Ecclesall.
O for a room and a tap with a washer,
a dry room and a clean floor
without draughts from under the door
- above all - a tap with a washer!
© GERALD ENGLAND
Composed: Ackworth, 2nd January 1967
Publications
1972 Bogg (UK)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
Footnote
Originally the poem was set in Glasgow but was still unpublished by the time I moved to Sheffield. Ladybower was substituted for Loch Katrine. I can't remember which suburbs of Glasgow were named in the original version.
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