Sirens bleed through

the damp dark,

red, white, red, white, 

spilling and staining

the night. 

Jagged knives 

of rap music

shred the curtains,

the beat throbbing, sobbing,

like the shudder of the earth’s

secret heart.

Cars, burnished sleek

by the splintered haze

of streetlights, 

swerve and curve,

tires scraping wild,

unknowable alphabets

on the rough asphalt.

People stumble

in scattered clumps

along the sidewalks,

swaying to the stinging song

of alcohol in their veins.

But still, 

the stars drown

in dreaming oceans,

and the wind sings

with weary oaks.

And, in her bedroom,

a girl prays 

that she will still be alive

when morning breaks.