(Originally written 2011)

Rainbow artworks flash before me,
Trailing puffs of smoke and dust,
Under the yellow incandescent glare,
And people pass me by.

My shoulder throbs as I lean on a column,
Of fake conglomerate on a peeling sidewalk,
Awaiting the verdict of a senseless Providence,
And the people pass me by.

Midnight nears, I’ve been three hours,
Cold and numb, throbbing and oblivious,
To the Bacchic trade of my little corner,
And the people slowly pass me by.

O, city unsleeping, slave of Time and Circumstance, take heed!
Here is one unwilling to bend to your baton,
And the ghastly people slowly pass me by.