Write that I was never home
that my home
was
              the dirt below my knees
write that my shelter was paper thin
                                                                       that
I had a cloak of yesterday's news
tell how that
On broken nights
   the stars were my only friends
               and explain-
to them-
that the man in the moon
             sang me to a forgiving night
and then explain-
to them-
that the yellow sun
        kissed me awake to harsh morning

Write that I
was always,
                        hungry,
even when I had something to eat
and tell them how
no one looked in my eye
because to them I didn't exist-
         to them I was a victim to be washed to the
gutter
explain-
    to them-
that I was stuck
                               between
                                                shadows of the sky
and that I had to hold the clouds
until the day that I demised

Write that I
was a nightmare,
a figment of the dark,
or write that I
was a dream of day
write that I
                        was a nobody
but tell them I was a somebody
tell them that you could always
                                              hear me-
the clang of a single penny
against the clang of another man's dreams

Write that I was whatever you needed me to be
write that I tried, write that I struggled
but write that I always fell back down with
no hands to pick me back
                                                  up
you can write that I was nothing
but please write that I
was
        HERE.