Fear

Why do I smell fear

in the sighs of the night?

Is it the summer entrenched

in the heart of the city

throbbing with fear of exhaustion ?

Its edges blunted by the sudden drizzle

Down in a narrow alley,

a spec of sky fluttered with hope.

Tiny hands scooped up the

falling drops with delight.

While a pair of desperate eyes

looked askance at the sky

“How to live through the chill of the night

on a drenched pavement ? ”

I hurled myself

against the silence of the city.

Honking horns, whirring engines

and the constant claptrap of unease.

Noisy monotones of silence.

And in that silence were lost

the pleas of that slight drizzle

“Hope, but do not fear. ”