City Sounds and City Smells

It was a smear of red and white graffiti on prostrate walls lying inert in empty bars,

The echoes of loneliness bounced of its vibrant paints and crass jukeboxes that blared honky-tonk music in room full of colored faces.

The sidewalks were sparse and dimly lit between islands of light draped by towering streetlights that cut through the evening fog with a tenacity rarely matched.

The grating sound of shuffling feet and wandering eyes, the longing within, the tear across the sky, blurred sight, dulled senses, and lingering, but soon dismissed, doubt.

The flurry of words, explaining, telling away, trying to make sense of it all, trying to make the other understand what it is…

The words melt into the movement of the night as people leave through gulfs and the pairs grow intertwined with wet eyes and light feet.

Groups gather on sidewalks in front of neon Taco signs, and the gentle hum of activity set against the gentle whoosh of late night cars.

The fog sets deeply on the empty streets and loners walk through crosswalks while the light blares red. It is late, the moon is shrouded, and all motives have been slowly obscured by the inscrutable activities of the night.

Feet move in the direction of home with cashless pockets and thirsting stomachs. The bright white light of a corner store catches thine eye and a quick dip inside yields plantains and expensive bottled water. The hum of the night gently dies as garments are shed and legs are wrapped around another’s.

The streetlights through the draped window leave a yellow haze in the room that thumps in the billowing wind of the night, the fog enters the room and settles over the eyes of it occupants as they are lost in whispered flights of passion and warm embrace. The darkness, it settles, and all is lost in the chasm between night and day…