Freece T I T F P M G F W S B B N I a I

ATOP A ROOFTOP TO COP The smoggy air was thick atop a Harlem high rise The only thing out of place was a boy with blue eyes He was a youth in search of peace not found at home And so the boy with blue eyes was begotten to roam He ventured forth into a world of darkness to search Having long ago been abandoned by school and his church Neither religion nor education could comfort him so he took to the road Headed afar from the comfort of his family’s hearth and abode So there stared blazing blue eyes on a rooftop’s domain As he talked to a man with a way to ease his pain Thirty dollars and a smile would send him on his way And so he returned to Harlem day after damnable day Long Island had raised him but that island wasn’t long enough And middle class madness left him with sadness to rebuff Day after day he’d climb the stairs to where they would meet A tall black man and a boy with blue eyes trying to be discreet The black man sold his wares by dollars and a bag The boy with blue eyes fearing his toes with a tag Because in Harlem death was an indeterminate threat And a boy with blue eyes had better pay every debt Sometimes the air was thinner during winter’s cold weather Yet and still the two faced fear while huddling close together Harlem was his teacher and a rooftop was this junkie’s incubator And writing this poem is blue eyes still with a habit forty-three years later © 2012….copyright PHREEPOETREE.....~free cee!~