20. Upon a Wall Filled With Graffiti That Stands Beneath The Bloor Viaduct On An Infamous Tract Of Land In Lack And Disregard

 

Nay, Street Urchin! Rest.
The dirty wall that stands
Not distant from crack alley; what if here
The graffiti marks the dirty spot?
What if these poor hovels collapse about?
Yet, if no footfalls come, this sheltered place
Would serve you a night’s respite, and the lamp
Beyond this valley, might be your night light,
Whose gentle glow could thy slumbers diffuse.
`           -Who he was
That first tagged here, and with the canister
First covered over, and taught the lonely wall,
Now safe, to be a haven anchorage,
I well remember. He was one who owned
No common soul. In youth, he was told off,
And told he wants too much; he with the hand
Was faced; was lawless because ‘twas law
Of foul magistracy. Against arrogance,
And pomp, against all corruption prepared,
But not the scythe; and so, his spirit fell
At once, in bitterness he turned away,
And in his inner life, darkened his soul
In solitude. Urchin! these bright colours
Had charms for him, and here he loved to paint,
His only enemies the drug pushers,
The quick fix, and all the friendly strangers,
And on this barren wall, with a spray can,
And chalk, and a cloth, he vandalized o’er,
Fixing his inner eye, he rightly one day
Acquired a fuller prospect, humoring
The enmity of the cosmic temper,
And throwing down his brush, he then could gaze
On the more distant scene – how lonely ‘tis
You see it – and he then gazed till it became
Less heart breaking, and his heart could then endure
The cruelty of the cruel. Nor, in his time,
Would he forget those beings, from whose chase,
Fraught with the fear of being caught and killed,
The world and this city appeared a scene
Of sheer oblivion. Then he would cry
Remorsefully, to think that others felt
What he never wanted. And so, poor man!
On hallucinogenic drugs would feed,
Till his eye became visionary. And here
He died. This wall was all that he bequeathed.

If you are one whose heart by the decay
Of lawlessness is not defiled or scathed –
Urchin! henceforth be warned and know that birth
And honors displayed to do injustice
Are unrighteous; that he, who then defends
With his peers shall find content; for justice
Shall be remorseless and deny offence
In all his faculties. The man who craves
Is deemed insatiable of appetite,
But let not pleasures encourage the wise
To scorn the sensations of this man,
For wisdom seeks acceptance. Oh, will you?
Instructed that the righteous persevere,
True faith and law abides in those alone,
Who, in the whole proportion of this wall,
Can still revere, and still instruct themselves,
In point of Honor.