Grim-faced and forbidding,
Their faces closed tight,
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm,
Race the oncoming night,
They chase through the streets of Manhattan
Headfirst humanity,
Pause at a light,
Then flow through the streets of the city

They seem oblivious
To a soft spring rain,
Like an English rain
So light, yet endless
From a leaden sky

The buildings are lost in the limitless rise
My feet catch the pulse and the purposeful stride

I feel the sense of possibilities,
I feel the wrench of hard realities
The focus is sharp in the city

Wide-angle watcher
On life's ancient tales,
Steeped in the history of London

Mist in the streets of Westminster
Wistful and weathered,
The pride still prevails,
Alive in the streets of the city

Are they oblivious
To this quality?
A quality
Of light unique to
Every city's streets

Pavements may teem with intense energy,
But the city is calm in this violent sea