The+People+of+the+City+by+Brooke+Lockwood

The People of the City

The car raced into the night Zig zagging through streets and soaring over bridges Following the path of ever glowing lights Until finally, perched over the glassy bay, appeared the skyscrapers Shaped by the giants, glowing castles brimming with people Shimmering through the puffs of pollution pumped into the wind

The streets dance with color , the smells of food and life carried on the wind Human experience illuminating the night As love, hate, fear, sadness, and joy circulate with passing people Capturing what language cannot convey, building between minds bridges Beneath the monuments of the human will, skyscrapers Brighter than any of the man made lights

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How comfortable, how invigorating, it is to walk amongst these lights <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Twinkling into our minds, changing with the wind <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Like the city itself, its skyline growing and shrinking with the <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">births and deaths of skyscrapers <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ever changing, the only constant is day and night <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And perhaps established, <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">well maintained monuments to the greats, our buildings and bridges <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Odes to the past, its pain and triumph, but most importantly its people

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For what makes a city great but its people? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And here lies the city’s greatest tragedy, glamoured away by department store lights <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hidden away are thousands of suffering in whispered-of neighborhoods and under bridges <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Soiled hands chapped by blistering wind <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The secrets of the night <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For the city holds great poverty, so so close to its velvet and leather lobbied skyscrapers

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some of the world’s most privileged live in these ivory tower skyscrapers <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ignorant to the plight of those <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">below suffering people <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wrapped in a <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> bubble of glitz and glamour thicker than even the deepest night <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Blind to the beauty and wonder of the lights <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Never knowing the feeling of hunger or the <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">chapping thirst of the wind <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Or the bitterness of life under the bridges

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But this does not negate the beauty of the city’s soul, stronger than even its best bridges <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More powerful than even its tallest skyscrapers <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For the people of the city do not fall to any gust of wind <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They are strong, creative, brighter than those artificial lights <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They pave the way, lead the charge, show us the best and worst of humanity, these people <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Are bold, <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> like fireworks in the night

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As the car flies over one of those grand bridges, its driver thinks about these people <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And pulls his car to a stop under a skyscraper beneath the technicolor lights <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bracing himself against the chill of winter wind, he smiles as he steps into the night