There Is A Boy
There is a boy
A boy somewhere
Crying out for his mommy
Hiding from his daddy
*****
Gulp
Gulp
And the fiery mead
Slips down into your stomach
To swim amongst your tainted liver
As somewhere
A woman cries
She lies alone tonight
While you pay another to lie
With you
In the apartment you share
A little boy hears his mommy's cries
He crawls through the filth
The humid air sticking to his thin body
He's seven years old
He should be able to walk
But his skinny little legs
Simply don't have the strength
It's safer close to the ground, anyway
His daddy..his daddy's fist
Can't find him there
When the little boy stops to rest
His matted head of curls slumping to the floor
He is undistinguishable from the garbage scattered everywhere
Just another something that's been
Used
Neglected
And maybe..soon to be thrown away
His little lungs labor weakly against the
Smoke
That permeates the air
There's more than usual..
As the boy pushes himself into the room
He spots his mommy
Collapsed on the bed
A white flame capped funnel
Dangling from her fingers
A lit cigarette
The whole room is lit by its glow
As the red orange yellow flame dances
Towards the boy
He giggles
Claps his little hands
The little boy knows what danger comes from
Danger comes from daddy's bottles
Danger comes from the needles his mommy presses into her arms
"These are my special needles"
She had told him
"Don't touch them"
The little boy had nodded
He doesn't like needles
They're sharp
And they hurt
The one time the school nurse stuck him with one
That was back when he went to school..
Back when Daddy drank once a week
Back when Daddy had a job
Back when Mommy didn't cry herself to sleep
The little boy knows what danger is..and he doesn't think it's the fire
With its blue hearted flame
That dances around the little boy
Before burning a path onto the skin of his pale
Sunlight deprived
Ankle
The little boy twists away with a yelp
As yet another thing in his life
He thought was good
Turns evil
The fire climbs up his body
Devouring his Nike T-shirt
As his little arms flail
The fire..
Wait
This isn't about the little boy
This is about you
You, who's laughing
Swept away on alcohol's intoxicating tide
As your son
Burns
As your wife
Burns
You, who when you stumble back home
In the early pastel washed dawn
Are greeted by a burnt out shell
Now you're back
Sitting at that same bar
The same drink in front of you
Charcoal smeared across your cheeks
Your fingernails ripped and bloody
Ash dusting your body
Do the remains of your family lie
Somewhere in that coating of fire refined
Particles?
You bring the drink to chapped lips
Your body cries out for it
But as it inches closer
Something pokes into your hip
You pull it out
Gazing at the scrap of charred
Smoked
Blanket
Your fingers
Stroke over its ragged edges
Memories flash
Of your little boy
Clutching this blanket to his chest
Most little boys have toys
Stuffed animals
Games
Your little boy
Had a blanket
As you gaze at the blanket
You lose it
Big heaving sobs escape
From your chest
The drink falling
And shattering
As you push
Through the crowd
Out into the warm air
Take one last deep breath
Before you step into a menacing environment
Step up to a woman clad in blue
Step into handcuffs
A jail cell
A court docket
Back to the cell
Five years later
You step back out
Into the same warm air
Sober
Ten years later you stand
In that same jail
And help others break free
From the nebulous chains
That tethered you to a bar stool
Twenty years later you sit
At a desk relating
Your story to me
When I ask
"Why?
Why do you do all of this?"
You look up to me, and you say
"There is a boy,
A boy somewhere.
Crying out for his mommy.
Hiding from his daddy.
There is a boy,
Who I can save."
You finger the scrap of your little boy's security blanket, as you whisper one last time
"There is a boy..."
******
A boy somewhere
Crying out for his mommy
Hiding from his daddy
*****
Gulp
Gulp
And the fiery mead
Slips down into your stomach
To swim amongst your tainted liver
As somewhere
A woman cries
She lies alone tonight
While you pay another to lie
With you
In the apartment you share
A little boy hears his mommy's cries
He crawls through the filth
The humid air sticking to his thin body
He's seven years old
He should be able to walk
But his skinny little legs
Simply don't have the strength
It's safer close to the ground, anyway
His daddy..his daddy's fist
Can't find him there
When the little boy stops to rest
His matted head of curls slumping to the floor
He is undistinguishable from the garbage scattered everywhere
Just another something that's been
Used
Neglected
And maybe..soon to be thrown away
His little lungs labor weakly against the
Smoke
That permeates the air
There's more than usual..
As the boy pushes himself into the room
He spots his mommy
Collapsed on the bed
A white flame capped funnel
Dangling from her fingers
A lit cigarette
The whole room is lit by its glow
As the red orange yellow flame dances
Towards the boy
He giggles
Claps his little hands
The little boy knows what danger comes from
Danger comes from daddy's bottles
Danger comes from the needles his mommy presses into her arms
"These are my special needles"
She had told him
"Don't touch them"
The little boy had nodded
He doesn't like needles
They're sharp
And they hurt
The one time the school nurse stuck him with one
That was back when he went to school..
Back when Daddy drank once a week
Back when Daddy had a job
Back when Mommy didn't cry herself to sleep
The little boy knows what danger is..and he doesn't think it's the fire
With its blue hearted flame
That dances around the little boy
Before burning a path onto the skin of his pale
Sunlight deprived
Ankle
The little boy twists away with a yelp
As yet another thing in his life
He thought was good
Turns evil
The fire climbs up his body
Devouring his Nike T-shirt
As his little arms flail
The fire..
Wait
This isn't about the little boy
This is about you
You, who's laughing
Swept away on alcohol's intoxicating tide
As your son
Burns
As your wife
Burns
You, who when you stumble back home
In the early pastel washed dawn
Are greeted by a burnt out shell
Now you're back
Sitting at that same bar
The same drink in front of you
Charcoal smeared across your cheeks
Your fingernails ripped and bloody
Ash dusting your body
Do the remains of your family lie
Somewhere in that coating of fire refined
Particles?
You bring the drink to chapped lips
Your body cries out for it
But as it inches closer
Something pokes into your hip
You pull it out
Gazing at the scrap of charred
Smoked
Blanket
Your fingers
Stroke over its ragged edges
Memories flash
Of your little boy
Clutching this blanket to his chest
Most little boys have toys
Stuffed animals
Games
Your little boy
Had a blanket
As you gaze at the blanket
You lose it
Big heaving sobs escape
From your chest
The drink falling
And shattering
As you push
Through the crowd
Out into the warm air
Take one last deep breath
Before you step into a menacing environment
Step up to a woman clad in blue
Step into handcuffs
A jail cell
A court docket
Back to the cell
Five years later
You step back out
Into the same warm air
Sober
Ten years later you stand
In that same jail
And help others break free
From the nebulous chains
That tethered you to a bar stool
Twenty years later you sit
At a desk relating
Your story to me
When I ask
"Why?
Why do you do all of this?"
You look up to me, and you say
"There is a boy,
A boy somewhere.
Crying out for his mommy.
Hiding from his daddy.
There is a boy,
Who I can save."
You finger the scrap of your little boy's security blanket, as you whisper one last time
"There is a boy..."
******