Ghetto Dreams

Narrowed visions of the limitless heights of hope 

Dreams deferred not dashed or shattered like glass 

Head held high to the sky 

Feet always grounded never caught off guard 

 Hopeless 

 Dark clouds Dark Thoughts 

Altered by substances poisoning the community 

These hands Those hearts hardened by this cold existence 

His hands Her thighs Their minds killing the hopes of the future 

 Savage 

 The stench of failure and poverty reeks throughout the streets 

Hunger pains and dope fiends screams vibrate the streets like a sick beat 

Cries of the children young and old scatter the air with grief and unbearable pain 

A young man dead, A young woman raped harsh realities simmer in this mixing bowl of misery 

 Numb 

 Hopes Dreams fears ignored by the outside looking in 

The mindset of a hustler taught to struggle and fight the hard way 

A better life is shown in the gleam of a child's eye 

Reality worsens with the smell of death 

 Ghetto Dreams 

Tony L. Jefferson, Jr. 2008