i walk the big city streets
holding hands with the night strolling
past shop windows down Fifth Avenue

i hear whispering in my ears
it is a litany of gifts
just beyond the door

as passersby ignore my friend and i
we move across Forty Second street
and up seedy Seventh Avenue

with my love still holding my hand
we ignore the pimps and their women,
the drugs, and the drugies

we approach Carnegie Hall
night with her eyes closed against the light
she listens for the music she loves

saying they play less and less
classical music every year
with a sigh we turn and walk
back along Fifty-ninth past the Plaza

no time for a drink as time slides on
we take a carriage ride at Fifth Avenue
and head into Central Park
as night opens her eyes wide

she peers at the brave hearts we pass by
they in return ignore us with locked lips
or what ever else suites their fancy

we disembark at the now closed Metropolitan
we walk east on Eighty-second and
at Madison Ave we head back down
past the many art galleries

long closed now as time refuses
night’s request to slow to our pace
we see the occasional doorway housing
a single occupant or a clinging couple

if they see my companion at all
they ask her to leave and bring the sun
we move on and turn west on Fifty-third

crossing Fifth Avenue again we approach
the sculpture garden behind MOMA
barely squeezing between the iron bars

she reminds me i need to lose some weight
as we sit on one of the benches briefly
the sky is still dark but night shivers
saying she can almost feel the sun
pulsing to chase her from my side

i whisper in her ear but nothing
will console her as she takes a deep breath
and exhales a heavy fog around us
and says “another night” and leaves me

my eyes blink and open slowly
she is gone and i see the first
slivers of light begin to appear
in the morning sky

i shall return again tonight
searching for what i will not find

12/06/2009