Thursday, March 15, 2007
Searching Downtown
He made his way downtown
Into the misty underground
He saw poverty, rats and rubbish scattered
Like so many people’s lives in anger
He feels sad for all the things that’s lost
The lives that go on without a wink of hope in sight
He looks at graffiti on the walls
And sees their artists’ stories between the lines
He sees the people in the restaurants
Hungrily eating up the rest of their lives
He sees her dancing in the street
Just a little way ahead of him
On and on she dances
And on and on he follows her
A bright remnant of hope in the grimy streets
She always stays a little way ahead of him
She leads him down into the darkest parts of town
And still he follows her, this beacon bright
Children pass them by
Skinny cats and dogs and flies
Her feet skim in pirouettes above the rubbish
He dodges water from some unseen window
On and on they walk and dance walk and dance dance and walk
as if in a dream
until they reach a dead end and she turns
and looks at him
He sees the sweetest lips and eyes and forehead
A beautiful young face in a now-faded yellow dress
He takes a step forward
She begins to dissipate, vanishing in the mists
He sprang forward with a cry desolate even to his ears
It’s too late – she’s vanished and
he’s left alone in the darkest part of town, still looking for hope
He made his way downtown
Into the misty underground
He saw poverty, rats and rubbish scattered
Like so many people’s lives in anger
He feels sad for all the things that’s lost
The lives that go on without a wink of hope in sight
He looks at graffiti on the walls
And sees their artists’ stories between the lines
He sees the people in the restaurants
Hungrily eating up the rest of their lives
He sees her dancing in the street
Just a little way ahead of him
On and on she dances
And on and on he follows her
A bright remnant of hope in the grimy streets
She always stays a little way ahead of him
She leads him down into the darkest parts of town
And still he follows her, this beacon bright
Children pass them by
Skinny cats and dogs and flies
Her feet skim in pirouettes above the rubbish
He dodges water from some unseen window
On and on they walk and dance walk and dance dance and walk
as if in a dream
until they reach a dead end and she turns
and looks at him
He sees the sweetest lips and eyes and forehead
A beautiful young face in a now-faded yellow dress
He takes a step forward
She begins to dissipate, vanishing in the mists
He sprang forward with a cry desolate even to his ears
It’s too late – she’s vanished and
he’s left alone in the darkest part of town, still looking for hope
Rise out of the ashes
Like a phoenix
Breathing in the clear air of a new morning
How we have survived the night
Like new beings crawling out of shells
washed up by the ocean onto the beach
Surviving
Loving to live
Knowing naught else
Loving life
life
life
And all it is
Crawl, crawl, crawl
Even when we crawl, we live
When we heave our innards
We live
When we sing
We live
Run with the wind when you can
It's a passion to be indulged in
Like a phoenix
Breathing in the clear air of a new morning
How we have survived the night
Like new beings crawling out of shells
washed up by the ocean onto the beach
Surviving
Loving to live
Knowing naught else
Loving life
life
life
And all it is
Crawl, crawl, crawl
Even when we crawl, we live
When we heave our innards
We live
When we sing
We live
Run with the wind when you can
It's a passion to be indulged in
Deep within the coils of the dragon
lies the heart of something precious
and new and hard to obtain
hard to resist
hard to know
do all dragons guard jewels
or do they guard a treasure of another kind?
©all poetry copyrighted by marilyn 2004lies the heart of something precious
and new and hard to obtain
hard to resist
hard to know
do all dragons guard jewels
or do they guard a treasure of another kind?
