Sunday 21 June 2015

I love this city



I love this city
No, not the shopping mall
Or the famous landmarks
With their fine architecture
Avoid the tourist bus
Learning the spurious traditions of a bygone past

No, come walk with me
Not in the bright sunshine
You'll wander down this dark alley
To find a separate world I know
A place that I love
Far from green lawns, flowers and statues

Keep your eyes open
Stare at no-one
Particularly that woman there
See those doors way up high
It's an old warehouse
You can see a hoist still there above the opening

Stand here for a while
Do you here that rumble?
That's a train under our feet
It would be hard to sleep
In these old buildings
With that tremulous feeling all through the night

We can cross this bridge
Over a placid river
Here a man was thrown in and drowned
For just being different
Before the the city was built 
It was the native peoples campsite long ago

Each city is like this
Remembering like me
As it holds on to its chequered past
Now as we turn this corner
Here are the shops again
And the city that everyone thinks they know

Image found at www.sensationaladelaide.com

11 comments:

  1. What a wonderful journey...i love how you take us full circle from the facade to the real and back again...nobody really acknowledging what's going on - aside from you and 'us'...i think i would love those dark alleys and rattling buildings too..far more stories there than on the shop shelves

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  2. Haunting write. Makes me want to know more.

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  3. exquisite weaving through the city!

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  4. I think one must be creative, or a writer, to even begin to hear the secrets of any city. They are there, whispering but so few lean in to listen. Perhaps too busy keeping their own whispered secrets.

    Elizabeth

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  5. Seamless use of the words. Interesting take on the poem.

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  6. Thanks for taking us on this journey with you

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  7. I am visiting a Capital City... and your words evoke and resonate just as the train rumbles past on it's ancient metal bridge... though most oft I hear it at night. Here to it was once free place held in high esteem by natives.

    I hope your Honda enjoyed your hug ;)
    Thanks for stopping by ~Jules

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  8. thank you for the walk and wander. Your descriptions made the virtual feel literal.

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  9. Very intriguing indeed.

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  10. My kids laugh because we still haven't visited all the special landmarks of our city.

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  11. **shudder** You've taken me into a world that I don't think I'd want to enter twice!

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