streets of grime

Streets of grime
stretched in time
I met a child
playing in an alleyway
He looked up at me
couldn't have been more than three
broke into a smile
that put the light of day
to shame

Streets of grime
stretched in time
A young boy
runs down the left-hand lane
Though he grinned
and ran like the wind
the fact that he was blind was plain
One day it will cause him pain

Streets of grime
stretched in time
A pubescent punk
slumped in the gutter filth
He's glaring at the sky
I can tell he's high
but since he can't reach his dreams, he'll wilt
for some reason I'm filled with guilt

Streets of grime
stretched in time
A young guy hangs
under a rusting streetlight
Dried blood smears his hands
His tears have dried to sands
He can't see the beauty of the night
Though one day he might

Streets of grime
stretched in time
An old man walks alone
He's ages old
A young body with an ancient soul
And with a withered heart as hard as stone
In loneliness he's grown
It's all he knows

"Shadows of what has been"
And it grows with every day
More despair than I've ever seen
And still others follow this way
From innocence sublime
To empty eyes
With no one to take the pain away