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                                               ^^^

The old sign
                                                Above the dead dream street        

ancient men gathered

Now
                              You move

Thru the dim lit haze

                 In awe

For the old sign gave you such warning

But you were young and did not heed

••

The bar is closed

As is the hotel up the block

Only a few crack houses show refuge

And the moans of the stale ****** who

are your only comrades

For yours is their game if not their trade

••

You remember your poet days

And how you laughed at the idealistic

Who spoke of mountains and such things

While you spoke of *** and exploits and
The exploitation they so inevitably  bring

The Sign  hangs and creaks as the wind blows
Above the bar that it once called home

THE SIGN !

You can't dare read it again !

You bundle up your years and move along

Everything seems to point at you / laughing heartily

You know it is not really so

But you and reality have long parted ways

••

All there  is  -- such loneliness

The old Sign swaying in the breeze

Is a story in itself

As you are a story in and of yourself

Of a humanity long since faded

Of a life so incomplete