for every kid that kept going,
there were a million who died out,
pissing heroin in invisible alleys.
I am lucky I made it out alive.
when I was young,
I was ashamed of being poor,
now I wear as a beatific badge of beauty.
I have a hammer for a heart.
while not rich,
I am doing better than my mother
at this age in the good fight of life.
my blood is still flowing.
help me see the pink sky,
so I don't forget why
I sit down to stand up.