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Jupiter Street

by Arthur Jackson

Sun has set on Jupiter Street
and the hounds are closing in
Their howls are all around me now
warm breath nearly upon my skin

Ever so swift with my escape
and still they found my scent
Viscous gnashing drives me deep
into this dark descent

I am a good man
into the night my plea
But no one’s there to hear my lie
except the hungry hounds and me

The path that led me to this hell
is again beneath my feet
A plain stretch of patient road
simple concrete and deceit

Orbs from street lights guide me
like dim halos on the ground
Against the odds I find my home
terrified of what might be found

A single light in the window
A single door in the way
A single fear of what’s beyond
as my guilt screams stay away

I am a good man
calling out another plea
like myself and the hungry hounds
the closed door will not believe

The nails of hounds drag and scratch
sudden growls close to my back
I hear their tongues eager and wet
anticipating their attack

With a primal desire to taste my meat
and feed on my fragile skin
the beasts made chase back to my home
but I’ll be damned if I don’t get in

Twisting the knob I cry her name
and through the open door I flee
I drastically seek forgiveness
from my beautiful Austin Lee

But an awaiting nightmare then returns
of betrayal that devoured whole
my only love with someone else
entwined with another soul

A loaded gun appears to me
insanity in my hands
first the other before my love
and then the final bullet lands

Even a good man can be damned
loosing the only love that he has known
for when a man is eaten down
he is left with nothing but bare bone

I am a good man
a lie no one will believe
not myself nor the hungry hounds
nor my Austin Lee

Sun has set on Jupiter Street
and the hounds are closing in
Their howls are all around me now
warm breath nearly upon my skin


Copyright © 2019 by Arthur Jackson

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