the air was sticky and smoggy that night on a Harlem highrise
the only thing that was different was a young kid with bue eyes
he was a youth in search of a peace not found at home
and so the boy with blue eyes was begotten then to roam

he wandered into a world of darkness to seek and to search
having long ago been abandoned by both school and the church
neither education nor religion could comfort him so he took to the road
heading far from the comfort of his family's hearth and abode

so there stared blazingly blue eyes on a rooftop's domain
talking to a black man who could ease the boy's pain
thirty bucks and a handshake would send him on his way
and so he returned to that rooftop every damnable day

long island had raised him but that island wasn't long enough
and middle class madness would leave him with sorrow to rebuf
day after day he'd climb those stairs whereupon the two would meet
a tall black man and a young boy with blue eyes just trying to be discreet

darkness sold his wares by the dollar and the bag
the boy with blue eyes thinking about his toe with a tag
because in Harlem death is an indeterminate threat
and a young boy with blue eyes had better pay every debt

sometimes the air was thinner with a cold winter's night weather
yet and still they dared danger while huddling close together
Harlem had been his tutor and that rooftop his incubator
and here sit i with blue eyes and a habit sixteen long years later
(c) 2011.....free cee!