The flashing, red lights outside the bank

seem like angry, villainous eyes,

taunting me and my young family.

8:00, 8:00, -4, -4



She seems so small in my arms

and so unlike others her size.

She doesn’t wear pretty bows or tights.

11:00, 11:00, 6, 6



He is my little man,

my only man since we are now alone.

Years beyond his age,

his childhood lost.

1:00, 1:00, 12, 12



I look at them, my babies.

I wonder why I chose anything over them.

I wonder why he had to leave.

3:30, 3:30, 11, 11



I was young and reckless,

he was too.

Even when I saw my baby’s red curls,

I couldn’t make myself stop.

4:45, 4:45, 9, 9



Now, I have another baby.

No home,

no family,

no job

What am I going to do?

5:00, 5:00, 6, 6



The sky is growing darker, only a tint of pink lingers.

It is a subtle change.

The sun rarely shines through the clouds, anyway.

5:35, 5:35, 3, 3



Now the flashing lights,

a beacon in the dark.

Are welcoming eyes, leading me home.

6:00, 6:00, -1, -1



I walk back to the shelter with its warm beds.

The only thing I can provide.