CITY NIGHTS

 CITY NIGHTS

Amidst the city’s hum, where raindrops kiss the pavement,

The scent of wet earth mingles with the distant hum of traffic.

People hurry past, umbrellas blooming like dark flowers,

Their footsteps a staccato rhythm on the slick streets.  

I stand at the crossroads, watching the world blur by,

The chill of the rain seeping into my bones,

Wondering where you fit in this tapestry of gray.

The sky above is ambivalent, half-sun, half-storm,

A mirror to the chaos swirling in my mind.  

Part of me wants to tuck you away,

In a quiet corner of my heart, safe from the storm,

Where memories can’t flood and wash you out to sea.

But another part craves the chaos,

The dizzying heights and sudden drops of your presence,

Like a rollercoaster I can’t resist, even as it terrifies me.  

Will our hands entwined change the course of stars?

Unlikely, as history whispers of love’s fleeting power.

Few kisses have rewritten the fate of the world,

And yet, in this moment, with the rain as our witness,

We might be more than just atoms colliding in the dark.  

This interest is more than boredom,

More than a distraction from the mundane.

We could be some chemical formula that works,

A rare reaction, sparking something true.

Or perhaps we’re just two souls,

Caught in the same downpour,

Reaching for warmth before the cold sets in.  

We have nothing to lose,

But the fear that love is just a beautiful lie.

Still, in the uncertainty, I reach for your hand,

Ready to write our own equation in the margins of time.  

So let the storm rage on,

Let the sky weep its indecision.

I’ll stand here, with you,

In the midst of it all,

Choosing the risk over the safety of shelves,

Choosing the scream over the silence,

With both hands in the air,

Ready to fall,