The Romantic's Ghetto

The Romantic's Ghetto
Some say their roots are in the land
In the strength and dignity of furrowed country rows
Mine are in the blaze of neonGiving light and breath to the tenements lining ghetto streets.

Some say their faith was honed on cathedral glass
And sharpened by regal priestly robes
Mine was cut on jagged ghetto glass
And purified by the clatter of subway steel.

Some say they have an eye for distant landscapes
Or the refined beauty of a mountain stream.
Mine is tuned to a ragged ghetto face
Or the cloistered ghetto masses forgotten by the rush of time.

Where's the dignity of life to be found?
In the land? In a stream?
For some it is for sure.....Where is it then for me?
It's the romance of the Ghetto that will always fill my soul.
© 1995 Phil Dillon