Shades of pink dance freely
On the hospital wall
Birth of a girl; and throughout the room
Do the doctors wonder their gaze
To the sight of a newborn on the Earth.

Shades of blue lament
On the alleyway side
Birth of a boy; no father present
To share in witness to the miracle of birth
And the anguish of the mother.

Both do grow in two different worlds
Like the distance of the sun and the moon
Does privilege lie in the hands of day
And do poverty in the hands of night.

Girl does laugh, girl does sing
Girl is strong with what life does bring
Her father a sword, her mother a shield
Her tools in life she does expertly wield
Girl is not alone; her friends play along
In the grand musical of life’s golden song
But life had a different tune to play
On the fated moment that night met day.

Where did the wind blow that noon
That girl saw boy clutch a rusty spoon
With rags to his waist and a face of despair
And that powerful feeling of his dark empty stare

Girl helped boy to his feet
Said, “Come inside and retreat
And bring your mother along too
Because I really want to help you.”

Girl fed boy; cleaned him as well
Girl brought him up from his alleyway hell
Girl’s family gave coin; boy cried out his thanks
To girl’s efforts to raise his meager social ranks

Boy said, “It may not be now
But I solemnly vow
That I’ll come to your aid
When your hopes someday fade.”

Boy grows up and becomes a man
Man saves up money from the work he began
Man buys home and starts fresh anew
Surely woman is faring just as well, too

But woman is beat by the warden she wed
He punched her and kicked her on the floor where she bled
And out in the air did woman escape
As free as a bird from the torture and ****

The street stretches as far as forever
Woman says, “Return I shall never.”
Woman falls and so does day
In the same dark corner where boy once lay

On the rug of alcohol stain
Does the husband bleed his pain
And the ****** needle on the desk
Keeps the husband ever statuesque

He jabs it through a poisoned arm
And the drug worked its usual charm
Down fall husband and the angry blood moon
Last words whispered, “Wish you’d come home soon.”

On the eclipse of the eve
When the sun and moon once met
Where comets illuminated the sky
And the light did never die.

Tears did girl shed when
Her eyes saw boy
Yet did the sun glow once more
When the moon did, too.

So man saw woman so ever down and out
Said, “I’d be there for you without a shadow of a doubt”
And moon helped sun to rise upon the land
When man decided to lend woman a helping hand.