His Screams Sounded Like A Bell

He let himself ring

         not pretty

                      like church bells

                      in little town belfries

         but ugly

                     like an ambulance

                     screaching just too late

                    through the city night

                   to a junkies' last tenement flight

And the morning will only see

            husbands fixing clotheslines

            and the janitor with his mop