A Walk through the City after the Rain

A Walk through the City after the Rain

In a blaze of memory the streets flare up
Between the concrete cells of my brain—
Hard as night the rain has not loosened the fire
That tears through the walls of my mad heart.

You rise out of the demolition of buildings.
With the axe of your words you hack through the cement—
Sidewalks and down alleyways you gain speed
Surefooted and safe from this mad stalker heart.

My thoughts dangle at the end of a long line—
A stranger assures me that many fish still swim
In the oceans and time has a way with mad hearts—
But she has not heard your boots on hardwood.

And she has not watched you brush grass from her hair
And she did not feel the thunder in your voice
The night that lightning struck the house
And put out the fire with your naked hands.