Beneath its roof of slate the city weeps.
The drips from melting buildings fill the drains
That carry endless tears to waiting seas.

Impatient rubber tires and rushing feet
Send sprays of saltless tears, splashing here
A naiad clad in shiny latex cape,
And soaking there a homeless little waif.

With demon force the never-ending drops,
Like stinging hypodermics, drive their black,
Depressing thoughts through cloth and human flesh,
Injecting toxic grief, destroying joy.

The lonely girl in her lonely flat can wait
For sun no more.  In her tub she sits and slits
Her wrists.  She watches the slowly reddening flow
That joins the rain and fills the weeping drain.