A Sunset of the City... Gwendolyn Brooks

Time has done its job, my aura and attraction    
have faded with the setting of the sun.  
Abandoned by that which made life real,    
I sit alone in the stillness where once beautiful    
chaos reigned.    
   
I feel the isolation, the threats of uncertainty and    
the unknown.    
They rip and tear at my heart, memories bleed
into a vessel, never to be reclaimed, yet held.    
   
I wander now, like a ghost from the past    
with all the memories but none of the trappings.    
The battle field is still and barren, where once    
there was life, however fleeting...    
   
Was my home my purpose? Did it define me or just    
accent my existence. Now it’s gone but I’m still here.    
I shout, I’m me! Not even my echo answers.    
   
I go through the motions of a being without    
being. My thoughts no longer match the world I knew.    
Time hums it sad refrain,” I told you so... “.