With traffic jams that last all day
The Ring, a Seventies’ invention,
A pitted, strong bone of contention!
Road blockages – cars nose-to-tail -
Begin at dawn and never fail
To fray the tempers of commuters
Who ventilate by beeping hooters.
Bad weather adds additional joys;
Roadworks – one of Brussels’ ploys
To make the motorists despair;
Out come the cones when Spring is here!
No logic in road markings too
Each day’s a challenge – stoppage new!
Road haulage transport is a curse;
Police and ambulance come first
When an accident occurs
But in the rush-hour, no one stirs
As traffic chaos takes its toll
Of medieval town with modern role.
High-rise car parks are too few
Streets often blocked – few trams glide through
Crushed, standing travellers on the bus
Long streams of cars ahead of us!
A suburban rail-link underway
But will it keep the cars at bay?
The Transport Minister* is fraught
As budget purse-strings are kept taut!
A crumbling viaduct must go
Metro upgrades, good but slow
So for those who’ve given up the wheel
“Mobility” has a hollow feel!
Gridlock - a daily headline splash!
This meeting hub needs urgent cash
The airport’s really quite close by
But snarled-up taxi costs are high!
For art and tapestries well known
For Eurocrats a second home
Brussels hums - but there’s a snag
In terms of transport it’s a drag!
(c) Poet in the woods 2016
* Pascal Smet
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