Lost,

like a little kid who's wandered off

only to turn around and find his parents are gone.

He calls out their names,

but his voice makes no sound,

as strangers in caps and cloaks

bustle around. 

 

Looking around, night approaches fast,

yet the stream of the people still pushes him back.

Unfamiliar streets pass under his feet,

as he passes alleys so dark he's scared of what he'd see.

Scared of where he's gone, he tries to go home,

but with buildings so strange, he fears he's alone.

Standing at a crossroad, he drops to his knees,

and tears begin to flow as he wipes with his sleeves. 

 

Then a tap on the shoulder, and warm words meet his ear,

"Are you lost son? It's not safe to be sittin' here."

A few moments later, he's sat on a bench,

next to a man with a trench coat, a paperboy hat, and a handlebar mustache. 

"Now tell me what's wrong, in a sentence or two,

and I'll see if there's not something I can do." 

"I'm lost from my parents, and I want to go home, 

but I can't find my way through these streets I don't know."

 

 

Pondering for a moment, the man dawns a smirk

"Well you've found yourself at the junction of Fear and Hurt!"

The boy, with a sniff, looks up at the signs,

the lamp light flickering across their designs.

"So where in this town would you like to go?"

Said the man in the hat, with a quizzical look.

"To the road called Peace,

as it passes by Hope." 

A smile dawned his face as he held out his hand,

"Then onwards we go lad, to a more familiar land!"

 

Through streets and back alleys,

past bars that are rowdy,

the two of them walk with their heads held proudly.

At times they fell,

scraping their knees,

and others they ran

from things they did see!

But the boy then did find

himself at a house.

The lights were still on, 

and then came a shout,

"My boy, you're safe!"

as his mother ran out.

It was there in the street,

between Peace and Hope,

that the boy, with a smile

Realized he was home.

 

Now the setting has changed, 

but the story's still true,

my thoughts are the boy,

my emotions, the view,

and the man with the hat? 

This Poem. Who knew?