Sea Side

The gulls don’t sing, they scream and bite, Through alley fog and broken light. The docks all groan with wooden bones, And sailors drink in undertones.

The cobblestones are slick with brine, Where fish guts rot and lanterns shine. A twisted cat with one blind eye Stalks ghosts that no one else walks by.

The taverns stink of gin and smoke, Of creaking laughs and broken folk. Where dames wear secrets on their skin, And strangers lose more than they win.

The tide rolls in with death and rust, And dreams are bartered down to dust. The sea don’t care for love or name�" She drags you in just all the same.

I live beneath a crooked stair, With salt-stained sheets and moldy air. I watch the ships but never go, I know too much to chase the glow.

And every night, when moonlight weeps, I hear the harbor’s voice in sleeps. It tells me, “Kid, you’re stuck here too�" The town won’t quit, and neither do you.”