Another night along State Street:

jumble of cars, walkers, gawkers,

jet trailing a hymn of fire overhead,

city of broad-shoulders, hog-butchers,

teeming masses, twilit hour and stillness

not an option, air pulsating, color wafts,

theaters empty, clubs fill, jazz rifts along

the street, sleep not an option, hey bro

can you spare some change, half-wasted

bum in back seat next to the baby as sirens

wail for sailors adrift from the Navy yard

and girls dance in dark caverns, smokers

and shooters in alleys drift off, eyes gleaming,

hustlers slouched in shadows gaze sullenly,

night in the city of desire and secrets and

fallen angels, hieroglyphs in the trash,

handful of stars appearing among towers

lighting up against night, brushstrokes

of cloud, cacophony and rhapsody, city--

invisible city, within a waking dream.

 

--M deO

 

Done