Friday, June 29, 2012

Street Lamp



Street lamp

Punctual as a flower, I spray
My orange dust each evening
After the sun has slipped unnoticed
From this city of no horizons.
Yes, darkness can be hard,
Inviting unintentional intimacies,
Which is why I help perforate
Your streets for you, separating
You from one another. At times,
A trip in my circuitry allows
Me to flash my Morse, making
Your shadows appear and vanish:
The stutterings of your soul,
Your soul finding its form.
In the morning, birds, not you,
Will land on my immortal neck,
As they always have done
On the shoulders of saints.

- Alfian Bin Sa’at