The City Sings Its Love Song

A Poem

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash

do you hear that whistle on the wind?
it’s like a calling card from another age,
and I’m lost in its soft and strange melody —
the pattern of beats whispering tonight

we can think we own a city
in all its shades of meaning,
but what do we know of love
when we can’t even keep it?

do you hear that voice from the skies?
it’s mine to hear and keep and savor
when life feels like a beating drum
with no room for happy endings

we walk these darkened streets
and wonder what we would give
just for a passion play of peace —
anything to keep the dread away

do you hear that sigh of longing?
it seems to have no source, no path,
beyond this beating heart of mine
which has echoed silent too long

we dream while we’re still awake
because no one has kept us
from the gentle tragedy of wanting —
whatever that means for a dying age