People get scared, sometimes scarred, for saying the wrong things. Society is particular about how appropriate the material we utter is and how we can appropriate material to breed decay and destruction.

But we forget the significance of things we don't say, things that don't happen, and still hurt all the same.

The old man by the corner, struggling to keep afloat the mist that shrouds his world; pennies are rarities and a warm day, a blessing no longer disguised as a threat. Fist clenched and mouth agape, breathless but desperate for attention. The cold wisp of exhalation that escapes the enslaved body, now free from captivity and liberated from the dusty, murky walls of the inside.

To ignore, is to pretend to care, and then nonchalantly express our deepest concern, without the slightest of action.

The boy wedged in his own despair. Having encountered the taste of failure first-hand, and at such a great blow, has dented his faith and broken his soul. The crumpled pieces a mismatch to the frumpy dress code of that young lad makes the perfect scene for a forlorn painting, one that would have been picturesque and all the same grotesque in the distorted mind of a famed artist.

Inaction is the act of doing something in the hope of not having to do something.

Standing stark at the top of the pedestal, lost with his accomplishments. Having taken far too many steps up, he has left so many behind. It is unclear whether it is a fault to be awarded to anyone at all. People of little faith, a man with no more motivation to shepherd the lamb, he who throws the spittle at one direction but greets the crowd following with a wry smile. Responsible for nothing and yet everything.

To be left alone, without recognition

To be left toiling, and still unrewarded

To be hopeful and then devastated

is the weight that drags the body below the surface, hidden from the eyes of the laymen. Waste deep in the sewers that course the city, meandering through the forgotten thoughts of many.

And as the common folk make haste across the linkway, therein lies the forgotten sins and unrewarded accomplishments soaked in the water under the bridge.