Somewhere amongst the garish flashing neon lights
A mind becomes a stranger which a lonely soul embraces
And an armoured heart prepares for battle.
And somewhere in a lonely room
Beneath a leaky yellow spotted ceiling
Dreams are being cried to sleep.
And somewhere in the fading winter night
There lies a man whose castle is the gutter
Which reeks of cheap intoxication.
And the pavement shoulders the hungry tears
Of those wandering and lost
Along the cracked sidewalks of despair.
And somewhere in a smoke filled bar
Are blackened lungs and poisoned kidneys,
Shredded dreams and empty lives.
The swarming city never sleeps
And angels walk the noisy streets,
Lost in depths of solitude.
And societys degenerates wander vanquished
Beneath misplaced street signs,
Wasted in the sempiternal chasms
Of the dusky maze of city slums.
A wicked wind whips through the frigid air,
Spinning leaves across glistening pavement.
And the residue from the last nights rain
Seeps tears into the gutters.
But somewhere in this lonely land
Roses bloom in alleyways,
And somewhere in the city twilight
Moonbeams pave the slippery streets.
And somewhere in the feeble light
Innocence leans, with chin in hands,
Elbows against grainy peeling paint
Of an aging second story windowsill
And makes the purest of all wishes
On the evenings falling star.
c. Karin Kapphahn, 1997
