Love Before Death

a single checkered cab emerges
from the steamy streets of Times Square
swallowed up with hate and fear
as the radio cracks under pressure
and
the winos scamper to collect soggy cigarettes
and
the hookers pull at their torn, dirty panties
and
the bloated businessman stumbles drunkenly
into the backseat,
blacked out and lonely
as the hustlers taps at their fedoras
pushing their filth on the weak
while the dead-eyed cabbie scans the square
for prey, for love, for companionship
and emerges from the steam mo-hawked
and desperate for redemption
terrified of his own thoughts --
each more violent than the next
crying out for love before death.