Below The Lights

The tension of the day, relieved by the night skies
The city of bustle, transformed into a city of beauty
An infantry of lights illuminate the landscape
Beautiful to behold from up high
But below the lights, despite their influence
A scourge of darkness prevails

Below the lights struggle starving men
Homeless women and abandoned children
Victims of a life they did not choose to live
Of a reality which they seldom endorse

Below the lights are guns, knives, machetes,
Throats slashed for love, hate, and handbags
Wives attacked by deadbeat husbands
Pupils stabbing pupils to end petty disputes

Below the lights roam the idle, the lazy
Warming the street corners by day
Carrying out their criminal acts by night
And blocking roads crying 'no jobs' the day after

Below the lights reign criminal beggars
Asking for money as drivers sit in their cars
Grabbing and running if 'no' is the answer
...Below the lights are stupid drivers

Below the lights exist scary traditions
Car stealing rings and drug smuggling plots
Murderers taking home bloody shirts to protective girlfriends
Ruthless dons lauded by many as martyrs and saints

Below the lights are the scum of the earth
Murdering women leaving church
Enticing little girls with food, then raping and killing them
Holding people at ransom for their own property

Below the lights live... lived...
A little girl screaming at the top of her lungs
As she burned in an inferno she once knew as home
And things with guns stood on the outside and watched

How simple it is, to stand at a distance
Perched on a hillside, staring at the lights
Admiring the beauty of the brilliant skies
How easy it is, while admiring, to forget
That below the lights is a darkness
Which no street light can conquer...