I wrote this in late summer of 1988. I do not consider myself to be a
poet, but his verse poured out of me seemingly without effort. I submit
it to the Doves website now as I now feel led to do so...
 

    America's Bane

Bare feet on hot concrete, and where heartache and heartbreak meet,

Kind of shallow - not too deep, but they cause my heart to weep.

Souls alone with no home, stand outside and utter moans

Of desperation in agonized tones, shut out by forbidden zones.

Homeless

Some take and some just break, painful words they confabulate,

I tried to reach into the wake; was only scalded for their sake

Some are great, some just freight, but all can find their way to hate

Those they feel just don't rate, simply because of a different trait.

Bigotry

Fierce pride in which they abide, locked away but couldn't hide

Their haughty eyes open wide, forever blind and dead inside.

Wicked schemes are in their dreams, evil bursting from their seams,

While they plot devious things and victimize whomever they deem.

Destruction

Fervid flings on the morrow bring a small voice that wants to sing.

An unwanted thing, it feels the sting, pierced and rent from the womb it
clings.

Silent screams, no more dreams, never had the chance to sing

Cut away from this life’s strings, and all that’s left, sufferings.

Abortion

Love's lost, but at what cost? On the raging waves it's tossed

 From crest to crest, dulled in gloss, in its place, hate's embossed.

Final days or just a haze, searching alone for different ways,

To find my path through this maze and touch the truth, before the blaze.

Hope

Rick Napier