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
Copyright © Patrick Cornwall | Year Posted 2012
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