The city
Almost unknown and unseen it grows,
like a silent epidemic, it crawls throughout the landscape,
devouring everything in its path with stealth.
At times I see it, right in front of me,
look up towards it with admiring eyes,
yet I do not realise it.
It envelopes me,
creeping up on me,
defining my space,
it instructs me on how to traverse the land.
I am enabled by it,
I am restricted by it.
I loathe it,
I stand in awe of it.
I stare at its beauty from my fifteenth storey window,
I am mesmerised by its enormity,
grateful to be part of it.
It disgusts me,
it reviles me,
it spits me out like an inedible pit.
I sing its praises,
I love its sounds,
of screeching tyres and of the silent whoosh of airconditioned air,
that blasts through when the doors open.
I can’t stand it,
repulsed by its ugliness, I withdraw into my cocoon of familiarity.
There it coaxes me to love again,
to smile,
to forget.
I do.
I forgive its trespasses as I continue to tread on those below me.
It consumes me,
and I it.
