On a filthy street corner
in a town on the outskirts
of the City
we congregated
I was the only white
& was dressed in my usual
tattered finery,
ripped jeans &
a silk shirt
halfway undone
I imagined myself
a sea rover of the Spainish Main
silver 38.
tucked in my
back waistband
I glanced at my 3
comrads, gangsters
of the lower class
sagging jeans
dreadlocks reeking of weed
I imagined myself
a rover
but in truth
we were nothing
but societys corrosion
words were exchanged
by my comrad
& another rover
from down the way
louder
&
angrier
until shots
rang out &
shattered the evenings trance
snapping into action
fire was returned
we held ground
until music
from the keepers
of law
sang down the street
we scattered
I sailed to
the train tracks
but was pursued
I turned & raised
my silver 38.
but the lawman's bullets
took me down hard
the last thing I remember
was the sky
beautiful and orange
with the coming of dusk
the most beautiful evening
I had ever seen