The City

Flickering candles in glass casements burning,
Cobblestone streets where dark alleyways run;
Black shadows move and dance with the earth’s turning
Roaming in places that daylight will shun.
 
Ugly and evil, infectious and rotting.
Rats roam the sewers, where poisonous fumes
Seep from the depths that are fetid and clotting,
Under the streets where a dark presence looms.
 
Rivers of sludge through the ditches are flowing.
Not a single speck of life can be seen.
Whispers upon the foul wind that is blowing
Try to discourage, cajole and demean.
 
Automobiles that are rusted and broken
Stand there abandoned alongside the path.
Not long before that, the creature was woken,
And all living things there then felt its wrath.
 
No voices join in that place of despairing.
Silent are houses, the buildings and lanes.
The sinister presence that’s there is unsparing,
It wants all to die until nothing remains.
 
Black clouds roll over this place of dejection.
All those who lived there have paid a high cost.
Its foul presence festers like an infection.
The city is hopeless, forgotten, and lost!