Stolen Lives

Written in memory of my brother who died from substance abuse/addiction}


All around me, I see the starving souls...
full of anguish and fear.
I see minds and bodies warped by "the stranger" ,
disguised and proffered as medicine.
Jackals on every corner...
licking the remnants of another promise from their hands...

So much pain I see in their faces...
so distant and removed from joy.
The life light is but a shadow of what once was,
the pyre burns, the flames licking each regret....
but never drying the tears.

The innocent lust for life...supplanted by the the pale mirror of a stolen conscience.
They walk the dark and lonely streets...
pretending that each day won't be their last.

Lives stolen...for a pence...and a dream.


Gregory Sexton