Misery Lane

In every city there's a Misery Lane Where councils dump their misfits, drop outs, bums The junkies, alcoholics, the insane Those ghettoes where it always seems to rain Death stalks them to the beat of grisly drums Injustice, terror, loss compound the pain Each tenant wants to move away in vain To have a garden full of birds and plums A cottage haven, cheery window pane The inmates once were not a social stain Were children, not just economic sums That make the city budget creak and strain Now they await the income of the train Bringing the dealers, fixers. Food bank crumbs Upsurge of filth spilled from an oily dream Some die by jellies, speed, smack or cocaine Or nice old fashioned drunk through toothless gums Or psychedelicdrugs that rot the brain Each longs to be rehomed from this domain For a lost innocence that will not come again The Caesars of their world downturn their thumbs For nothing good from shared contagion comes A busker beggar please their sole refrain ‘Oh why were our potential futures slain? '