Life Rattles Fast
Life rattles fast through the underpass
With the kings of the curb signing pacts in blood
Teenage girls in their tight skirts are cutting class,
Stripping off their shame for the neighborhood
Little ones carry drugs tucked between their books
As they race through the station toward the coming train
And some old, angry men toss them dirty looks,
Jealous of the youth that the young maintain
And, at its mother’s breast, a baby wails,
Crying to a night that is deaf and blind,
But, at the sound of a voice, the city exhales
Lonely for a love it will never find
(2012)
