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Leeds Shopping Centre.jpg

LEEDS - LOVE IT!

By Josie Whitehead

Leeds - Love It

This giant city, big and strong,
Is pulsing, vibrant all day long.
    As evening shadows cast their shade,
    The lights of Leeds are then displayed.

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Financial centre, shopping malls –
Sky-scrapers rise, bold and tall.
     Brilliant lights outshine the stars
     And streets abound with motor cars.

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Nightclubs, theatres, works of art,
Pound within your mighty heart.
    Seats of learning, students, books;
    Posh restaurants with master cooks.

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Music, opera, writing, dance,
Stockbrokers and big finance;
    Public gardens, huge green parks –
    Swimming, running – on your marks?

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Leeds United – heard of them?
Their footballers are Yorkshire gems.
     Cricket?  Think of Headingly –
     Without our sports where would we be?


 
This city’s a financial centre
So bring your money if you enter.
    Seek not those long lost woollen mills,
    Whose product grew on Yorkshire hills.

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But don’t forget those days gone by.
There’s no-one here who can deny
    That wool meant money, power and trade
    And what we had was all homemade.

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The Industrial Revolution came
And life in Leeds was not the same:
     Steam power arrived, and cotton too,
     And cotton mills?  For certain!  Two!  


      
If time, go see Leeds’ grand Town Hall;
The smart interior says it all:
    Mill owners who had ne’er to hide,
     Displayed their wealth with utmost pride.

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Gone are the black Victorian walls,
Replaced with pristine shopping malls.
    Whilst here today our modern Leeds
    Strives to meet our present needs.

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Copyright on all my poems

Leeds at night.jpg
Canal gardens.jpg
cricket.jpg
Leeds - Love It 2.jpg
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