Light

A dirt path from afar gives way to gravel, then to bricks, then to asphalt, there is the thudding sounds of footsteps of strangers moving, and we learn that this din is the silence of the city that rises from the barren.

Our journey has been long and weary; without halt we traveled across barren lands of snow, ice, rain, sand, sun, and before us from nothing rises a city that threatens to pierce the zenith, a saddening moment as realization hits that really, the city wishes to tear the canopy of stars and light and dark that is our sky. 

The city that rises from nothing is always moving; I am alone in the gas-lit streets, and yet all the same I am pushed here, jostled there, elbowed, cursed at as I stumble, and struggle to catch myself before again I am forced to just "move along" with the crowd that never quite stays still, while no one and everyone watches, I am still alone. 

The looming shadows that never fade block out what little natural light there is, forcing away the parting gift from the stars and moon as night falls, insisting on enveloping the city that rises from nothing with harsh lights that blind my eyes as my tears are illuminated with the artificial harsh white that tells a jarring truth, the white light that illuminates all, reflecting nothing and everything as I cry out because here, the canopy drifts above asunder, its usual glorious dismal self, hiding nothing as the savage truth of here rends me apart.

Here lies only a bleak city that rises from the torn shreds of the sky's fading radiance, as the stars fall, their waning luster clutching, weakly they glint, before failing to rise again.

Feel the pain of a fallen star,

Know the calm of standing still as the sky engulfs you with existence.