Fourth Street aches with the dull grit
Pattern of exhaustion,
Last year's cinders meeting flecks of brick
                                  and roofing
From the ninety year old warehouses
That began their lives as hotels,
                          stores,
The thriving opportunities of a rising class
                           of hungry immigrants.

The concrete bridge that hid
The two lower floors
Of a clay-red four story brick building
                           is gone,
Revealing the naked wood beam
Of a bus station's under-level door,
                   termite tracked,
And offering views of the sewer system
                   as it once fed the creek.

4/21/84

Index     June 5, 1984