Ah Vegas Poem by Suburban Lovechild

Ah Vegas
You call me now
In ways no longer reserved
For asylum (jingles) or perverse tours of duty
Those missions have been won
Decorated in myth
Perpetuated by views and cues
As wartorn players revel
In memories
Gaunt from (melted) time
Quantum distance
And duty laden with mirth-like urgency
Oh Vegas
You're still my girl
Always fond of freedom's sweets
You lavishly pour my way
I still promenade with the throngs
The cousins you deliver upon arrival
All in tandem, synced in mood
Joy tendered from precious metals
Imported by the river's greedy decree
Flowing in by buckets
Trickling out by accidental drops
Leaked from diseased spittoons
I watch this
Through eyes singed by hemlock's past
Through windows sealed by labor's virtue
Balance, I conclude
Has been achieved
As past wickedness
Forced hands
Grips firmly in rhythm
The beat remains yet modulates
To soulful prancing and mitigated madness
Since these glowing tapestries
These ardent vats (adorned)
By Satan's grotto
No longer sting of zest and legend
Which endure through
Dust, illusion and amplified pride
Meant to inspire the next of kin
The bonus babies
Destined to sketch
The next chapters of glee gone awry.

(6/16/08)