“I have been one acquainted with the night.
… I have outwalked the furthest city light” (Robert Frost).
No remote nature road for me
Where small rustles in the grass chill my gut,
Where moon and stars play hide and seek
Behind brooding verdant branches;
Where cackling cicadas watch over me,
Warning me they are waiting.
Spare me the desolation
Where something howls at the sky;
Where my lonely steps
Crush the paths I walk.
Where friends are empty echoes
Of memory.
Give me city lights in my night,
Solitude in a crowd,
Feeding all my senses:
Reverberating voices tripping over each other,
Smoky roastings tempting my tongue,
Blasts of heat and rot beneath,
Colors rioting beyond the rainbow.
Give me the city
Where wishing stars
And moonlight larger than the sun,
Play along the asphalt;
Where other walkers and I make music
Like jazz, dancing our variations,
Watching each other prance
In the glowing darkness;
Where I hear laughs of mirth,
Sobs of grief, hums of life.
So lovely, Shirl ~ walkers making jazz, moonlight larger than the sun … Good poem, evocative of what I too like about the city.
Ah just love the poem, the visualization, the flow and these lines
Trees bare enough to not hide the stars,
And moonlight larger than the sun,
and the ending. Thank you for a lovely poem.
This is so wonderful. The Frost quotation so well sets up your beautiful counter argument, the phrasing exquisite.
This had me chuckling in a good way…because of your amazing counter argument. I love Frost and nature walks and you had me rethinking…I loved the lines “Spare me the desolation…where something howls at the sky.” Beautiful imagery. Well done!
Love this piece. You set the stage, make a case for the city way. This really resonated with me as a city guy who also loves the isolation you referred to. I can aee both dides snd sppreciate the P.O.V.
Wow!
Every line, I mean all of them, are powerful.