Neon Lights

Neon lights, beckoning, inviting,
souls to come over to play.
Promising something exciting,
if one should stray their way.

Look at their bright colors flashing;
pretty they are to behold.
Twisting and turning in patterns quite dashing,
but now only half the story's been told.

When the sun comes up and lightens the sky
and shines brightly in the day,
they look quite tacky as they flicker and die;
as their neon lives fade away.

The snares that they set for souls during the night
have trapped the unwary in sin,
but everything is now exposed by the Light
and many regret the big mess they are in.

The pleasures they tasted now empty and gone,
and so too their morals and money,
but others still crave all that jaded old 'fun',
returning at night when it's no longer sunny.

Oh! Pretty lights, you flash and you flicker
during the nights to make lost souls sicker.
Lead them to drink, to gamble and more -
is that what you look so beautiful for?

This poem won second place for the August 2008 poetry contest