silently you stare out at
this city that never sleeps

125th street

children run around you, laugh, play and die
but not always in their sleep
some will not even know how you
treated their grandfathers

119th street

what you did to their fathers
and how you broke their mother’s hearts with cruelty
each day you bring people that never look
above their newspapers
then go home at night and snicker about
what they didn’t see
back and forth they head home

castles in the sky
where they tell each other that this must be what
hell looks like
complete with dirty streets and burnt faces
and still they snicker telling each other
that people seem so happy down here
its not so bad

if it ain’t then how come you don’t
want to come down here and
share our happyness