Blackish Brown

It wasn't any better
leaky taps and brimming drains
greasy yellow walls
atop squalid mosaic floors
and on the flaky ceiling
the gloom hung heavy
a cigarette lightened it up
and I ventured out
the streets were even worse
abound with fidgety elders,
clueless urchins and
women from a distant time
all breathing in, miserably,
the air of irrelevance
and the sky, you ask?
the sky was blackish brown