Last Tear

Walking down Lehigh Ave in North Philadelphia where I used to play Now I see teenagers playing with dirty syringes and caps of rock Women strutting and screaming, "Hey," to the car slowing down to peak Gotta get one more And the mother cries as the police drag her son away Cars with flats and smashed windshields litter the streets and gangsters Old men walk fast and the litter races to keep up Glass crunches underfoot as the junkie holds up his hand with two fingers "Whatchou want old man?" And the newspaper flies past swirling and the old man thinks it's the end Police roll past and the thugmen walk casually in all directions "Da Bien,"thugish screams and the dealers return As she sticks the needle in her arm and pulls the blood through She goes into a nod and her eyelids droop but a tear rolls on her freckled cheek Its the tear that has power as her breath becomes close She takes one last lungful and the tear rolls slow as the heroin takes her life