BrokenTown

In BrokenTown it was one day, 
I came across a spindly lass, 
whose once clear eyes were darkened shrouds,
and weakened soul resembled clouds,
translucent after rain. 

Oh,  I remember clear as day, 
it was at the dusk of May
when the donkeys clacked and brayed, 
when the farmers filled their hay, 
and the maidens wore a veil to lure the future. 

This young girl,  in tattered skin, 
holding pain and hurt within, 
drew a sympathy from all the sullen lives. 

This girl was bones. She was so thin. 
No muscles seen. A bony chin. 
And lids which drooped, and watched with sharpened knives. 

To pity her was not my dare. 
I was so late. I should not care, 
but I recall a day long in the past

when I too was lost and needy, 
and long suffered by the greedy, 
so I came to this young girl at the last. 

Her worn out dress all dirt and shoddy, 
clearly matched her worn out, used up body
and she struggled to sit up and plant a smile. 

Said she... 'Sir,  for just a copper penny,
you can use my body plenty'. 
Yet her face resembled madness,  and pure guile.

I had remorse for this young maiden, 
whose young mind was clearly fading, 
so I sat within her filth and held her hand. 

Though she struggled to be free
her weakened self just failed to see 
what a gift had come within the form of man. 

So I bade her stand, to take her feet, 
and I would give her life, complete 
with every luxury a person could afford. 

Then unbidden to her eyes,
shearing through her dark disguise
came a tear she had forgotten how to shed. 

And all at once within her face, 
was the misery replaced, 
and that skin brightened up... the dark heart dead. 

Thenso I took this girl to a place, 
where she could live in love and grace, 
to find a certain joy and life of love. 

I thank the Gods I once went down, 
to the heart of BrokenTown. 
For in the scum I found a living dove.