When I was a Ghost

I keep thinkin ‘bout
When I was a ghost
A non-man
Just another also ran
Permanent pedestrian on
Lonely February nights
Before it became fashionable to haunt the living
On street corners with cardboard signs and long excuses
We ghosts were happy to remain unseen
Sticking to the shadows on well lit boulevards
Stalking the back streets of suburbia’s
Well manicured dream
Covering miles at night
By the pale blue light of tv’s
Reflected through the windows of
Hundred thousand dollar homes
Monuments to a society of winners and losers
Cause America loves the winner don’t ya’ know
The do-er
The go-getter
The American dream machine just keeps rollin and
Some aren’t strong enough
Some don’t care enough
Many never learn how to hold on
See their worn familiar faces as we pass them on the road

When I was a ghost
Without family
Duty
I could waltz into a 7-11 and come out with the essentials
Two chili dogs Fritos and
And an Olde English 40
Hidden in the pockets of my shabbiness
To be scarfed behind a dumpster or
Under a bridge with the other homeless
The hopeless
Winos
Hustlers or worse
Who were just as concerned about surviving as I was
And may possibly strangle me in the night
For my sleeping bag
Belt or
Even the last few sips from my near empty bottle

When I was a ghost
At the bottom
Sleeping along the river trail
In and out of jail in and out of institutions I
Met this woman
Who said she loved to listen to my words
And gave me a place in her arms
Where I could feel safe
Accepted for what I was
Some mad poet
Nothing more asked for and
Maybe that’s the key huh
In this land of the winner
Maybe there needs to be a place
For the thinker
The romantic
The slow
The crazed have value
See their worn familiar faces as we pass them on the road and know that they are just like you
Us
Me
I mean
Nowa’days people pass me in the street or in the store and Nod hello
Some I even know as friends but
Could I have said the same
When I was a ghost