elizabethlevett

The city streets are empty,

the crowds have come and gone

and it’s quiet, cold and still.

The rain falls slow and steady.

The sidewalk’s dark and cold under streetlights

while I walk.

A silent saxophone, a frozen metronome

in the window of a pawn shop.

The melancholy whores outside the liquor store

and an old man in a raincoat.

The Jade Café is closed now.

The empty tables wait at the window in the dark.

The rain falls slow and softly.

The sidewalk’s damp and cold in the moonlight

while I walk.

Forgotten photograph, unfinished paragraph,

and a question I won’t ask.

A certain melody keeps coming back to me

under streetlights while I walk…

(Photo by Lesa Hurtik Neff)