inside this stinking alleyway
beside the dumpster’s
rotting remains
i pick up vanity
wrapped tenderly in connection
and hurl it inside
with yesterday’s fouled waste…
its been easy to leave
what i couldn’t repair
bleeding
in these streets…
its been too simple
to stand outside of here
drenched in my own blood
saturating wet bricks
drop by drop
while knowing that prayers
from lone fingerprints
still won’t lead to yesterday’s
truth and belief…
there’s plenty
of today’s garbage
that will always
be waiting here for collection…
these tales
of tomorrow
are so far from sight
and so easily erased
heel to toe
with boots heavy
with mud and grime
i ground them into
pavement next to
cat-piss sprayed walls
dismissing them from
this narrowing
one-way street…
the deal with regret
and redemption
is that one is too easy
while the other
is anything
but free
you have to decide
quick!
if its time to find the exits
or be trapped
in this
dead-end alley
forever