De Ja Vu

You would think that at three o clock in the morning
someone would notice the boy bouncing the basket ball
and on closer inspection shudder at the black eye
or the swollen lip with hard blood left to linger

Then again maybe it is just as-well no one does
the kind of people knocking around the street now
are hardly the most maternal minded of people        
waiting for a chance to share their love of Jesus

Me? well even if I could muster enough strength
to stagger over to the kid bouncing the damn ball
I would probably just be greeted with the same
vacant stare that he gave me this time last night