Nameless Streets

As a kid the summers seemed so long
The dusk a never ending song
Too much, too young
He'd never hear it again
A walk through the dismal streets
The alleys where the junkies sleep
Too much, too young
"Well, that will never be me"

Slow, hand in hand to the boardwalk's end
His mother's words like the biting wind
"Please don't leave me"
He'll never hear them again
"Keep quiet, stay out of sight"
Her sunken eyes that used to burn so bright
"Please don't leave me, please don't leave me"

So he hid pressed against the wall
Under stairs in the darkened hall
The sound of heartbreak reminded him of home
Shadows move slow across the floor
A minute seemed like a day or more
The end of heartache when she opened the door

The sights, sounds, smell of burnt out shame, pride, spite, love
They all come here to die
He sobs, "Please take me away
Please mother bring us home safe
On nameless streets the way we came"

And suddenly she prayed for better days
And for redemption
Sullenly she prayed to keep from harm's way and for conviction

But there's no forgiveness here
No hope beyond that pier
No way to get out now
Not for her in this dead end town
And that drunk is waiting up
Him and Jack, the empty cup
"Where you been?
What you on?
Who'd you fuck?"
One more drink to toast "good luck"
She gets a stiff hand from the old man
Like the bourbon he's been drinking, black out
And she gets a stiff hand from the old man
Like the bourbon he's been drinking, black out

The summers seemed so long
The dusk a never ending song
Too much, too young
He'd never sleep again
Too much, too young
"Well, that will never be me"