city night

the illuminated canyon walls of city night
glow, lurid and yet dazzlingly beautiful –

a garish, fluorescent valley of the shadow:

upon which a theatre of disparity plays out

where the mean and guileless are draped

in the same glitter and the gleam

of neon rainbows and moonbeams

and happy revelers mingle

amongst the broken souls, street wise and

lost angels, in a precarious circus of delights –

a kaleidoscopic, schizophrenic scene

of humankind lit – stark – against the glare

of rich castle blocks carved in rock hard sugar

capped in golden crowns . . .

and in the air . . . amid exhausts and café wafts

a nebulous excitement and urgency,

that pummels like a drum beat . . .

as those passing through:

enroute, with somewhere else to go –

wonder, if they should be on their way

or stay a while, and just –  take in the show . . .

photos:  night lights of the city (Downtown Vancouver) – W. Bourke

© 2014 Wendy Bourke