You were always,

Always making Everest out of asphalt

Your ship was always sinking

All of your bridges:

set ablaze

3,000 miles between us

Or one breath,

It didn't matter

I remember the night

You came to me with

Fearful eyes, asking

"Are you mad?"

This is a birth defect

A sinner born

Into a world of sin,

Of broken glass,

Of fallen skyscrapers,

Of dirty grey air

Black lungs

And cigarette butts

But you were the tree growing

In the abandoned factory

There with the glass

Shards and

Rat carcasses;

The homeless shanties,

The unclean

And you were always making Everest out of asphalt

And me?

I was the king

Of the streets you roamed