With mixed emotions I felt death strike
Sitting in a crowded coffee house on a damp night
Surrounded by a city of dead people that smiled and laughed
And spoke of life.
I smiled through the pleasant pain of
Losing some vague connection with an obscure past
Tasting mint espresso and the overwhelming sense of small
And being man.
The falling sky seemed to wash my mind
Of tender stalks of grass or infinitely high trees
Melting away into the dark streets, swept away by the streams
Into a drain.
I hear the laughter and I smell smoke
Curling at the ceiling, not unlike clouds; as a boy
Watching the temporary masterpieces drifting away
Forever gone.
With mixed emotions I felt death strike.
With a quiet painless blow,
Someone died within.
