Misery, Shakespeare and a Child

Amongst my follies which are many
I tried to illuminate a damaged young mind
that Shakespeare had a story for all human afflictions
a child--
born into misery from his first cry
a mother missing
a drunkard father prone to violence 
child of a lesser god he was
in whom hope wept a thousand deaths

he sat with me one day
eyes that spoke of an old man's pain
yet so empty
he said, 
" you want to share my pain
but you don't understand
I'm a gun with a bullet in the chamber
a sword that completed it's half arc
a knife that's in half thrust
I own the cemetery that's my life
and you are looking to walk in
don't, unless you're ready 
without remorse to pull the trigger
if that's what I ask of you
for I am in pain 
worse than your darkest nightmare"

stare into silence is all I could do
words such from an eleven year old
I bought him a meal, gave him a cigarette
and saw him the next day
continued to teach everyday for months
he learned to love Hamlet
this child of the streets
"One may smile, and smile, and be a villain"
using that quote as if a soliloquy
he, the seer of false smiles every day

one day he stopped coming
addicted to glue he was to escape his agony
an eleven year old child suffering such
he sniffed enough to escape life forever 
I still regret giving him that cigarette
I still regret giving him that...

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