In The Nameless City

Poem written 8-19-24.

In a momentary, everyday,
Tragedy never seen in the news,
An orphan was born to living parents,
And fostered by angry ghosts

Never all the way alive,
And never allowed to die,
She found herself in dreams,
A nightly citizen of the Nameless City

She paced its twisting streets,
Paced in turn on every side,
By the other glittering mysteries,
Of this city both ancient and new 

“Are they also dreamers?”,
She wondered as she went,
“Do we all just walk and talk”,
“And walk each night until we wake?”

She wandered through buildings,
Through houses and apartments,
Through schools always in session,
Each path always leading to the other

Walking slow past half-familiar shops,
And through crowded halls full of people,
Always almost, but not quite, recognized,
She looks at the sky and sees it is sunset

In the distance she glimpses the sea, 
Dark and purple, lined with white foam,
A beach eternally out of bounds,
As the streets seem to stretch on forever

Oh Nameless City, ancient and new,
Your streets abound with the lost wishes,
Of every dreamer, shuffling and blinking,
Just trying to find their way home