The City

 In this life is the beauty of light.
 Sights and sounds from the city at night.
 Songs reach out from the shows.
 Music warms as the neon glows.

 Lovers walk hand in hand,
 street merchants hawk their wares,
 starlets troll the promised land,
 while homeless kings stand and stare.

 Shiny badges watch it all,
 street queens making their pitch,
 chickens clucking their call,
 magic men glaring without a stitch.

 In this heaven that is hell
 the loved and the loveless reach beyond the sell.
 Blood is more true than the lie,
 the lie of untold wealth to buy.

 Tall buildings reach through the sky,
 memories of another day.
 The city is beautiful and alive
 even if it is full of jive.

 An outline from a distant shore
 I can see the graffiti from here.
 All the marks tell the truth,
 the truth of preachers and the book,
 the truth of tribes that wade into the war,
 the war of street kings with the look.

 I float gently away
 as the lights behind me shine.
 Making my way to my own lights,
 lights of a city that is mine.