New Orleans Poem by Kevin Carney

I should have seen it coming…
Too late it was for me to walk away
Maybe I should have opened my eyes.
The invite was there, so easy to fall under the spell.
I sit now in silence…
My eyes closed trying to paint that picture that used to be.
A time that was poignant…
Trying to remember those good times…
Now a faint memory of what used to be…
Was I the pawn in your sordid game?
Was I just a clown, see my brightly painted face.
The smile so wide, I thought it would never end…
Look at me now, that frown of despair.
The happiness over, cut from under me…
Those harsh words, we said a lot that night.
Lord look at me, not the same person I used to be.
Time to get me on that southbound train.
Traveling to who knows where?
Hell it might as well be New Orleans…
You thought I would have learned.
Still I am not so sure.
Maybe just running away from it all.