Humor

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Cliche Town: Back Alley Requiem


Lying in a gutter
In the dark, dark shadows
With your life’s blood
draining away

Face down in an alley
There’s a fog in your eye
And a switchblade
down to the bone

You’re drowning in a pool
Of crimson betrayal
And you remember why
You worked alone

Your brain reels in pain
As you replay the day
To figure out just
Where you went wrong

A pair of ruby lips
Bundled up in a pout
Set you up for the
Sucker punch

With a straight shot of gin
She reeled you in
Then left you to swim
With the sharks

And when alls said and done
When she had her fun
She walked away
With her hands washed clean

And even now in this
Brick alley boneyard
You’d go back if
She cut you a break

Rule number one
When you fall for a dame
There are never any
Cat landings

Laid out on your gut
Or flat on your back
Either way yer gonna
Hit hard

There’s no one to blame
Except for yourself
It was coming like a
Runaway freight train

And the hammer comes down
When her Johnny blind-sides you
And she skips off while you’re
Paying the piper

Rule number two
When you fall for a dame
Watch out for
Collateral damage

The kick in the teeth is
You’re tagged with the goods
So there’s nothing pick up
Even pieces

So you lie in the shadows
With nothing to hold onto
Not the gin, her lips
Or those curves

So you reach for your flask
For one last nip
Before you’re claimed as
The night’s next victim

You wonder if it was worth it
This splash of color
In your world that’s been
Black and white

And which is better
Your living that’s dying
Or the dying you’re doing
Just to live

If you had it all over
To do it again
Would you have done
A single thing different

And you don’t mind
You’re content in the ride
On the one day that you lived
You’re dead

And fading to black
You manage a smile
Between a grimace
And a groan

Rule number three
When you fall for a dame
Better figure on
Dying alone


(c) 2005 David Ian, Dani Baldwin

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