'Tickets Please' by David Bingham

Beware of those
who would volunteer to wear
uniforms at the weekend;

like the man who,
dressed as an inspector,
lingered at the entrance
of a first class compartment
to extend the moments
of our embarrassment
to his satisfaction;

then left us,
toes uncurling,
free to recall
other men in other times
and other worlds

who clipped their tickets,

not on the line from Highley to Hampton Loade,
but on a much darker and more sinister road.