Graffiti

Graffiti

In the jungle of the city

Where the walls are slick with accumulated grime

The empty buildings hold the tears and the broken dreams of thousands

Littered with the frail bodies

Of damaged souls

Here, a young mother cradles a wailing infant

Held to a withered breast

As dark eyes search the street for a john

To pay for her next fix

Only 15, and yet so old

A dog, scrawny and emaciated,

Nudges the fallen figure of a man,

Sniffing the man’s greasy, tattered coat

Searching for a morsel of food

The man doesn’t move

The dog moves on.

And yet amid this labyrinth of abandoned buildings

A message signs out from a stained plaster wall

Splashed in graffiti letters, a bright sign

Painted by the ruffians, runaways, and homeless

One word. One message

Hope.