[ WWW ] Prosperity

 
Starlight bullets through  
the black veil above  

as the rider in cold night air  
knows not what it would be like  
to have warm apple cider by a fireplace  
in the company of a good hearted woman
 
or have any number of his desires fulfilled  
 
---those dreams have long been killed  
 
The Town of Prosperity welcomes him  
bustling with an occasional tumbleweed  
howling winds driving frenzied sand    
along the main street as if spirit horses  
whistling through jagged remnants of windows  
absent of any kind Lady of the Evening  
to console this weary traveller  
 
Beaten down by the elemental forces  
shivering, blinded  
choking, thirsting  
 
he finds he must pause  
to cup his grimy hands  
and drink dirty rainwater
rom a rusted horse trough