ON THE BLOCK
ON THE BLOCK
Urban sprawl,
Graffitied walls
High rise flats.
Hooded twats?
City dwellers?
Cocaine sellers?
Eyes on sticks
And cars on bricks.
Everybody’s feeling
The youths are dealing.
Slowly drowning,
Always frowning.
Trying to impress you,
Even oppress you.
They look rough,
They’re not really tough.
They work in gangs
But they’re not real gangsters.
Seem to be hard
But they’re really mard.
They’re carrying knives,
Fearing for their lives
Not like the old school,
No need to be tooled up.
Pull up hoods
And put on gloves.
When it’s dark
They make their mark.
Guarded by the night,
Hidden from sight
Faces scowl
As they prowl.
Looking for a victim,
Why did they pick him?
He was alone,
Talking on his phone.
Didn’t see it coming
Or he would have been running.
Home to his wife,
It could have saved his life.
He didn’t make it back,
Cos’ he got a crack.
On the back of his head,
He ended up dead.
His family didn’t know
Until they answered the phone.
His life had been taken
They weren’t mistaken
He won’t be coming home
They will be alone now.
What happened to our right
To stand up and fight?
Kings of our castles
We could do without the hassle.
Instead of running scared
We could be more prepared,
There should be more support,
When it gets to court.
Deprived backgrounds?
I’m sick to death of that sound.
Put them all in gaol,
Watch their faces pale.
Maybe they’ll think twice
If they pay the price.
© By: - Pete Slater. 2011
Noetic-fret!
Sat 27th Apr 2013 21:21
It's an angle! A good angle but here I have to have some empathy with our young people. Without saying too much, they have only ever known doom and gloom. Back in our day things were more optimistic, we had Glasnost and Perstoika, we had The Berlin Wall come down, we had Nelson Mandela freed and the end of Apartheid and White Minority Rule in South Africa, the Cold War became over and generally there was more optimism in the world. What do our school leavers have to look forward to when they leave? It shouldn't happen I know, but what they have grown with is a society that's losing it's fabric. Nevertheless a good read, you can empathize with the family, but it does sound a little bitter and places blame where it may not necessarily lie.
As Mike says, good stuff at the end of the day.
best wishes,
t'other mike