The Market Place

I have been trying to pen this verse for the past two weeks but Someone was standing in my way and my mind went astray Can’t you see that it is a brand new day? Winter has subsided and spring has just rolled in You play with the stock you play with the crop And you gamble with food that you have not got Your aged old dream has sent many downstream It has spilt innocent blood, cast many in prison and destroyed good homes and beautiful families There is no gold lining your drugs infested streets and everyone is feeling the heat Brown stone buildings are still grinning in Brooklyn and the Bronx, In East village and upper Manhattan many people still speak Latin Match box skyscrapers are shooting in the air and water is running everywhere You have sold this dream for decades, kidnapping the innocent man Trapping and deceiving the learned, and unlearned as well as your very own You uproot the rich and the poor from their prosperous land Beguiling them to go to your drugs paradise land They have spent all that they have got Then your citizens force them to become thieves and murderers The tug of war is about to begin and the dragon is set loose To set your produce on fire and make way for new hires A ton of turkey for a kilogram of rice and a bag of barley For a rolling dice, nothing is free everything has a price And many have made that painful sacrifice I walked around the market place searching for a comfortable base To appease my appetite and bring everything to light I parked my bicycle under a tree outside the market And all of sudden a little old woman start grinning in my face She squatted on a stool with broad leafy vegetable Spread out on a cloth on the ground in front of her Her slender frail body swings to and fro Shouting out at the people as they go Juicy green vegetable two Yuan a pound Come buy my home grown vegetables She rolled out her little money bag Counting up her hard earned cash With just few leaves left on the ground extra luck landed in her lap someone bought all that was left on the ground She was just in time to sell everything before the market man come pestering People gather outside the market place That’s where the rumble and the tumble take place Fresh vegetable, insect punctured vegetable Carrots, tomato and eggplants, broccoli, cauliflower And cucumber, lettuces, string beans and pumpkin Were right on spot for the late evening barging Old meat dumped in refrigerator and fresh meat spread out on top Deceiving customers and busy shoppers Fish that has been stored up for four decades Unearthed and wiggle on top of the big old ice box The women had everything laid out in their laps Big fish as broad as my chest filled the tanks around me Pulling the busy shoppers towards me. People gathered on the street side People packed inside, big bull head rolling in, beef, mutton, and fish packed the stalls waiting for the special ball Chicken, rabbits and the roster laid flat on tables with their intestine plucked from their guts amid the evening rush The doves were waiting in a cage waiting for a breakthrough They pecked the cage with their beaks but the knife was already sharpened I stood there watching everything unfold The market place can be rather cold Urine smell, garbage smell and types of smells circulate the atmosphere Chatter and laughter burst out in the air and shouting and screaming echoed far and near Everyone talked over each other trying to sell their goods in the neighborhoods The potato leaves were selling too they provide great nourishment for me and you Chicken eggs, duck eggs, turkey eggs and pigeons eggs bundle up in crates looking at the people standing at the gate The market bosses scrolled up on their big motor bikes and rush the old women from the street side and forced them to find a spot inside No respect, no comprised, their rudeness caused me to groan inside The market is a hard place to sell you have to study the pattern Or you will fall in the fire and go to hell Everyone is trying to be smart and deception is right at the heart So load up your shopping cart before you start.