Gutter Hearts

Sitting on the kerb You wipe the tears away again The gutter holds your sallow hearts That wash down with the rain Barbed and brittle hands that push The hair out of your eyes Pavement fires a-flicker Like a host of fire flies My song calls from the gutter And the gutter sings to me A roundabout of down and outs In cardboard box city My song calls from the gutter And the gutter sings to me A roundabout of down and outs A dark cacophony The wolven of the orphan gangs Take turns to search and steal They splash about the puddles And are trodden under heel They bathe their pearly faces In the lights of Chinatown And they lick their pearly fingers When the street lamps flicker down My song calls from the gutter And the gutter sings to me A roundabout of down and outs In cardboard box city My song calls from the gutter And the gutter sings to me A roundabout of down and outs A dark cacophony All night I've been up With the bitterest of thoughts I can't seem to throw All my cares to the wind Makes me sleep feverish Makes me sleep scared Pillow of secrets And blanket of sins