Riverside Drive is falling down
Most stores are vacant, boarded up now
John the barber, his candy cane’s cracked
The railroad’s gone; it’ll never come back

No street bustle like years of old
Crumbling docks covered in mold
Weather beaten buildings with broken window panes
Lay dormant across this bleak terrain

Pot holed pavement
Divides the decay
of this once thriving town
far from it’s heyday

Stray dogs and shadows
Scavengers of the street
Search for their sanctuaries
And crumbs beneath their feet

Winter hides the destruction
Masked in shades of white on white
The stillness of a graveyard
under a full moons silver light

The permanent stain of what was
Nature’s thaw will never cleanse
A voice in the wind carries the cry
Goodbye my friend, it's shame you had to die

12/03/2003