Yeah. I'm also thinking that this is about addiction.
["I"] met a person with baggy "ring rounded pocket eyes" who "shivered out thoughts", about things "golden", because it brings about a high/happiness, and "pale", because of any disadvantages.
"All these thoughts were rolled onto needles" seems to be reffering to the drug-usage-to-escape-bad-realities theory. "That’s where they hide", in the "basements and racetracks", or, "Where rubies turned diamonds", where money is exchanged for the drug of choice. After getting their desired drug they leave ("sheds out the crowd into the streets") and, perhaps, while on their way to whereever they're going, they think "What will we become?"
"Will stay where it's warm, Where it's safe from the down beating drums" Makes me think of the drums used to alert warriors that danger was approaching. So they stay where they're safe from "the down beating drums", or, danger. But, even though they want to, they can't sleep ("as habits pull the sleep out covered in the sheets that harbor rest and sunshine") because, by then, they're coming down.
Yeah. I'm also thinking that this is about addiction. ["I"] met a person with baggy "ring rounded pocket eyes" who "shivered out thoughts", about things "golden", because it brings about a high/happiness, and "pale", because of any disadvantages. "All these thoughts were rolled onto needles" seems to be reffering to the drug-usage-to-escape-bad-realities theory. "That’s where they hide", in the "basements and racetracks", or, "Where rubies turned diamonds", where money is exchanged for the drug of choice. After getting their desired drug they leave ("sheds out the crowd into the streets") and, perhaps, while on their way to whereever they're going, they think "What will we become?" "Will stay where it's warm, Where it's safe from the down beating drums" Makes me think of the drums used to alert warriors that danger was approaching. So they stay where they're safe from "the down beating drums", or, danger. But, even though they want to, they can't sleep ("as habits pull the sleep out covered in the sheets that harbor rest and sunshine") because, by then, they're coming down.