Title: City of Light, City of Darkness

It’s a loud, loud world: honking cars and business calls.

Everyone is going somewhere, seeing things, snapping things,

pounding the asphalt, tasting the drinks.

Elbows rubbing, dirty chopsticks talking.

Like a colony of ants through intersections crawling

Everyone is doing something, buying things, selling things,

The bigger the city, the bigger the dreams.

Street-side performer, iron gate thrills

Uninterested patrons ignore the show and the peddling.

Everyone is busy somehow, making things, typing things,

Locked in concrete castles or glass menageries.

Slowly dying, rollercoaster whims

The haves all have it, and the hopeless crashing

Everyone is unsatisfied somehow, wanting things, needing things,

Wide open palms and pudgy bellies.

Greed and Envy’s jean jacket buddies

The noise, the lights, the smoke, suffocating

Everyone wants to escape someday, packing things, chasing things,

In dark alleys or religious pews

Saintly choir or drugged-up tombstones

A single candle flickers in the window, burning.

Everyone needs someone sharing things, loving things,

I am a lonely heart watching the busy city streets,

A blazing wine bottle, silent screams.

Yours in ink,

S.P.Lowe