Where is everyone?
Street lights shine but aren't guiding the way,
merely casting a dim light against cars
parked menacingly in the middle of the road.
In the absence of sound there is something new,
not quite silence, but an empty space where noise used to exist.
It's hard to believe, but even the wind has abandoned this place.
Even so, the surrounding environment is most definitely cold.

But where is everyone?
I wonder if there's a meeting, to which I was not invited.
Or perhaps someones having a party... No to quiet for that.
Windows have been left open, and the Doors left unlocked
are so common, it seems people left in a hurry.
Perhaps something bad is coming.
Or something good has just left.
Perhaps everyone tired of city life.

I have the unsettling feeling, that even my footsteps
are making no sound on this deserted street.
The young couple, fresh faced and holding hands.
The sightseers, the night club goers, the tired and the world warn...
All gone. And with no mark left behind.
Nothing to suggest they had ever been there.

The streets are dry, the sky clear.
No scuttling rats, no buzzing machines.
Not a solitary hint of life.

So where is everyone?
Has everyone gone to bed?
Are they hiding something?
Perhaps they've all been killed, but then
why am I still here?
And the most frightening question was still to come.

Had they ever been there?
Had they ever walked hand in hand, talking loudly
into mobile phones. Had they ever exchanged kisses,
or thrown fists at one another.
Had they ever listened to a song, or picked a flower.

Had I ever been here?
Had I ever laughed at a joke, or had a cup of coffee.
Had I ever read a book, or watched a film.
Perhaps I hadn't, but that still doesn't answer my question.

Where is everyone?

01/28/2008

Author's Note: First part in my ¨City At Night¨ series of poems.

Posted on 01/28/2008
Copyright © 2024 Danny Washington