Bitten Veins

Walking with a crutch

Through dirty alleyways

Drinking half a bottle of whatever

Breaking promises to myself

Dodging monsters and fiends

That fill up the night.

There are questions to be answered

But I’m not the degenerate to answer them

I’m a cowardly figure, draped in black,

Catering for the disenchanted

Delivering them narcotics

And a shoulder to cry on.

The paper bag is soaked through

Not from rain, but from spilled wine,

Wine redder than the blood that flows

Through bitten veins.

The town is crying from smoke fumes

And the people are all hungover

And coming down from their highs

Walking aimlessly, stinking from sex,

And using payphones, remember those?

To apologise for their seediness.

And I have a clear view

I observe the destruction

The black and blue

The bruised and broken

They’re weeping to the horns

Coming from the cars

They’re dying inside

Hearts breaking and minds shattered.

I drink up

Looking for my eyes to shift onto

Something more appealing

But this place is grey and depressing

And there’s no jobs, no cycle of life,

No one to kiss.

This apartment crowded with people I don’t know

We’re all the same

Connected by alcohol and everything that’s bad

There are guts on the floor and rotten milk in the sink.

I don’t condone this, but I cascade like them

Into a world of drug abuse and dishonesty

Scraping the floor for spots of cocaine

Sniffing it like a deranged madman.

I want to break the habit

I want to feel life lift me from this sofa bed

And into a circle of love.