A City Sound Asleep

I knocked at the city gate, hoping you would let me in
I scaled the city walls to find them uninhabited
The gilt facade at which I'd marveled led me to believe
I wouldn't find a city sound asleep

The wind kicks up miasmas filled with sadness, dust, and grime
And on the breeze I feel a thrum of long-forgotten chimes
A haunting whisper at my ear that no one hears but me
I'm standing in a city sound asleep

In the dust are traces of games played long ago
Shapes and scuffs strewn all around like footprints in the snow
Or pieces of a puzzle that make up its history
And beg for me to wake it from its dream

The noonday sun seeks out a stone that shimmers on the ground
A glint of gold that calls to me and hungers to be found
I'm pulled along by legs I'm captive to, and in my haste
I kick it and uproot it from its place

A change is spreading, fanning out, it seeps like molten waves
A rippling golden tide replacing every hint of gray
And in its stead a wondrous sight that takes my breath away
I'm standing in a city wide awake