LANGE GASSE 18

HOTEL UTOPIA

(for Tony Whittle)

In the Hotel Utopia,

we’re as happy as mortal sin.

You can hear an old man crying

through the city din.

There’s a tap that’s always dripping

and walls that are paper thin

and, in this Hotel Utopia,

we’re really dreaming.

There’s a picture in the bathroom

of a resort miles away

and the stairs creak like the old man’s lungs

as he lives another day.

Outside, the trams go tumbling past

and a young girl lights the glass.

It’s Amsterdam and more days lost

on the streets that run so fast.

Yes, here in the Hotel Utopia,

we’re as happy as mortal sin.

You can hear an old man crying

through the City din.

There’s a tap that’s always dripping

and walls that are paper thin

and, in this Hotel Utopia,

we’re really dreaming.

Remember Anne Frank passed this way

so you could grab some Speed,

get high on Sex and learn tp pray

for this City of Eternal Greed.

Take a canal boat, a Rembrandt Ride,

take a hippie down a diamond mine.

I’m a happy man but this City’s sad

and we’re running out of time.

Here, in the Hotel Utopia,

we’re as happy as mortal sin.

You can hear an old man crying

through the City din.

There’s a tap that’s always dripping

and walls that are paper thin

and, in this Hotel Utopia,

we’re really dreaming.

You can lose your eyes in a haze of dope,

you can drink your life to death.

Lying down, in these days of hope,

you’re running out of breath.

So pack your bags and fly away,

through the crowds on these Amstel streets.

Just one last whiff of a Tulip Day

and the weight is off your feet.

In the Hotel Utopia,

we’re as happy as mortal sin.

You can hear an old man crying

through the City din.

There’s a tap that’s aways dripping

and walls that are paper thin

and, in this Hotel Utopia,

we’re really dreaming.

KEITH ARMSTRONG

'Well Keith your beautiful poetry melts my heart, you know that don't you?

Good to see you writing about current politics, don't stop, our country may be depressing politically but the things that are happening are still brimming with meaning and young people today especially need to believe that poetry can be powerful.'

(Jen x)