All night! Every night!

The city dwellers keep it moving

with motorcycles, street music, screaming, whatever.

My urban lullaby followed me, like a child,

around the world.

The campus of the university summoned me one midnight.

A trail of silver stars lured me to the park

where the same kids were getting high on benches, all night

drinking out of the same brown paper bags, every night

still racing their beaters down the dusty driveway.

All night! Every night!

And the street musicians played faster and faster

All night! Every—

Man! I thought. Everything was the same

down to the press-on nails and the fake Nikes.

Just as I was getting home, the elevator broke, I fell about fifty stories down.

And in those milliseconds I thought up this poem:

I want to walk the lit up tunnels of the subway system,

or better yet swim through them if there’s water in them!

I’d swim through green and I’d swim through blue

and I’d even swim through purple if it’d lead to you.