Suburban Decay

Our teeth were once pristine,

milk-white pearls, sharpened incisors,

eager to chew through culture and devour romance,

hoping, in complete naivety, to find a lover’s embrace.

With each misplaced kiss,

and every mispronounced declaration of love,

our virgin white is forever tainted,

until only a dull yellow yearns.

Our incisors, worn flat,

by the gristle and bones of reality.

Our gleaming beauty becomes a shadow of what was.

And our gaping mouths,

once filled with charming youth,

are now crowded with the heavy ache of wisdom.

– Rob Padfield