Velvet Nights:

You see them when your out
woken from a bad dream
or simply had to get out
of the very restricting confines
of your self made prison

but do you notice them

take time to really see them

for how they are

the walking wounded

its on every face

on every tree of life

traced in the lines of age

their suffering muted inside

but spilling out 

into their very lives

misfortune their only 
constant familiar companion

as they stroll under the sheets of rain

under dim lit street lights

of the rain soaked nite

on past hobbled hunched men 
of the drink

seeking salvation within its depths

on past those sleeping in doorways

long forgotten and left too cold

past the running waters of the Thames

as it flows and winds away

with their very dreams

lost forever more

no one to hold them 

or keep them safe

the hands that held them

now long gone 

withdrawn into the murky depths

of the blackness of the nite

and whilst it may seem

they cannot will not be reached

have you stopped to notice

and speak to 
the walking wounded

time is nothing to us

to them is but everything

for their time was long taken away

by the very actions

of those who failed to notice

such a long time ago

as they was left to mire

in a world not ours

~X~