environmental run-time exceptions

It was pouring heavily that afternoon and I remember being stuck in the café scribbling this on a napkin.

Oh, queen of rain
trapped by your unconscious design
stop building me chains
i cannot break
stop me drowning
in my own mismatched hate
stop your beauty
falling like tears drops
into the gutter
that is
my
soul
by quddus chong


I was with Evelyn the night before. We were making our way out of my apartment to the car park when we saw a shadowy figure slumped and groaning beside a nearby drain. The guards were paying no attention to it and I too was just about to drop my blinders on this sight until Evelyn whispered, “I think she’s crying”.

I did not contest, Evelyn is always right and I’m always too apathetic.

This lady was quite elderly, abandoned and suffering from retardation. It took us the longest time but we eventually manage to gain her trust through the use of Evelyn’s soft words and my emergency Hersheys. We drove her to a police station not too far away where we were hoping they could help us find a shelter or trace her family. The officer I was talking to told me that all the shelters here were only open in the day. What they could do was to bring her down to the general hospital for a check up and let her spend the rest of the night at the station. I mentioned tracing her family again but the officer looked away. He asked me who I thought put her on the streets in the first place.

I’d like to think that the city cries for us sometimes. I just wish it didn’t make me feel so fucking useless.

Goodbye, world. Be good to yourself.
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