These Streets

I will one day forget
the shapes of these streets,
the tarmac forever incomplete,
the cracked pavement under my feet,
the misery in every face I greet.

I will one day forgive
the complacency and hate
dribbled from bruised lips,
wept from weary eyes,
plucked from pools of sick.

I will one day forget
the friends who fed me to lions,
who stabbed me in the side,
who laughed when I cried,
who left when my father died.

I will one day forgive
the man who learned to lie
and loved himself despite
the rats who wished he’d die
were forever at his side.

I will one day forget
the streets that never led me
in the right direction.

© Davey Cobb 2022 All Rights Reserved