The Streets of Yesterday

A fellow member of a yahoogroup asked me to share something I wrote so I rummaged through my high school group's newsletters to look for this poem I made:

The Streets of Yesterday

Many a night while
On my bed I lay
I dream of me walking
On the Streets of Yesterday.

I find myself on the main street
From where narrower ones diverge
I trace my steps on the sidewalks
Where my tiny feet once tread.

I peek through twisted alleys
Strewn with empty cans of hope
I pass through makeshift gardens
Where once had bloomed Youth's rose.

On the sidewalks I can see
Children naked crying
Mothers washing, waters gushing
Vendors noisily hawking dreams.

By the windows wrinkled faces
Sadly looking out
Lifetime lessons being whispered
Scattered by the winds.

In the corner of my block
Idle men booze and hoot
At tiny-waisted misses
In big petticoats
(waiting for the jeepney
to captivity).

The market is deserted
The churchdoors are all closed
I search for a face I know
I look for me and you.

I feel confused and lost
Though familiar laughter I hear
I panic I run home to my house
But it is no longer there.