Cradle To Grave Poem by Nancy Ames

(The speaker here is an older street-person)

'When children get the notion
that being bad is fun
and negative emotion
is playing with a gun...

But no words are ever spoken
and they just leave you alone,
and the little heart is broken
like a puppy wants a bone...

There is something keeping warm
way down there in the dark,
like a shadow taking form
only needs a single spark.

But no one pays attention
on those long, hot summer days,
and it's what we never mention;
it's the knife that cuts both ways.

Like what went down last night -
he was just waving it around
to watch her screaming in the light,
but she never made a sound.

He didn't really mean it
but she didn't see the joke
and you'd know if you'd seen it,
you can't ever fix what's broke.

So she was downtown slumming
but someone had to do it;
I could always see it coming
but how was I to prove it?

I guess the reason that he's dead
was his fundamental lack -
he thought the way to get ahead
was pushing other people back.'