Cracks in the Pavement

I came across this poem recently and I was surprised at how mature it is (given I wrote it back in September of 1994).  There's a lot more imagery in this one than I typically do, which I believe makes it extra special.  For me, the cigarette butts are like the child that some might have the attitude of tossing aside.  The grease stain represents damage someone can do to someone's life that they just ignore because they have what they want. The 'industrial' represents people getting so focused on the grind of life that they forget to love and care for their fellow man.  In the end though, nature (or goodness must win)...hope must break through.  The man at the end represents the cycle starting all over again.

~KH

A mother walks with her child across the cracked and gray pavement

She has to go slow because the child can’t walk perfectly yet

The mother stoops, holding the child’s tiny hand.

How sad it must be for those mothers without fathers…I wonder if this one has a father

One day, the child’s hand will be bigger and the child will walk on its own

Cigarettes used and butts tossed onto the pavement

Grease spots from cars that never get cleaned up

Some don't care, as long as they have a car

Would I care?

Nature must break through the industrial

Nothing can stop nature

Grass must break through the pavement

Another man tosses a can in the dumpster.