On The Town

(music begins…)

(the squeaking of the doors)
It was a fine day for an excursion out on the town.
We tentatively opened our doors to look out.
They squeaked in a hushed excitement
that echoed our prospect of leaving our boxed-in lives behind.

(the shutting of the doors)
Our sleepy security was then shut behind us, if only for a day;

on this side of the door the uncertainties of life awaited,
each of us turned there with mixed anticipation,
toward the unexplored wonders that lay ahead.

(the starting of the engines)
Cars came to life, humming tunes of promise
for an eventful day, mingling among people
who seemed to be a permanent part of the landscape
that we only imagined from within our boxes.

(the squealing of the tires)
Then it hit us all at once- the reckless abandon
that came with the first realization that we were free;
it was transferred to the accelerator pedals,
as we left behind drearier days in wild trails of burning rubber.

(the speeding of the cars)
To say we made haste was an understatement-
the sun licked the horizon
yawning to another ordinary day, as suns go,
but for us, we were going on the town,

and there wasn't a minute to lose…

(the clickity-clacking of the rollercoaster)
We were the first into the wooden rollercoaster gates,
the first to hear the clickity-clack over the muscle-bound tracks
that played out the rhythm of speed and reckless abandon
that only a day on the town could bring to us.

(the screaming of the girls)
At every turn of the winding cars, at every rise and drop, the girls screamed;
the screamed in the front, they screamed in the back;
they screamed from the ground
and from directions that defied the laws of physics.

(the sound of the bubbles)
We took in the aquarium, and watched the fish move past
right under the noses of sharks and stingrays
that seemed to be swimming off to work,
evoking our sympathy as we guiltlessly enjoyed

our day off, on the town.

(the laughter of the insane)
Some in the aquarium had a different bubble it seemed,
perhaps they reacted to bubbles differently,
as do those who wander in from beyond the boundaries of our safe town,
straying in from the dark edges of the night...

(the gusts of the wind)
Then a storm materialized, first with a gust of wind-
little warning for what was to follow;
we had pictured our day on the town to be out in the open,
not in hiding under shelter from the turbulence above.

(the crack of the lightening and the rolling of the thunder)
A flash of lightening not too far off
gave way to the rolling thunder
that reverberated through billowing dark clouds
tumbling this way and that in ernest hast,

frowning with swirling shadows on the center of town.

(the pouring of the rain)
The deluge was sudden and swift,
people darted for cover holding what they could over their heads,
bending as if bending would help them evade the whipping winds
which carried the sheets of wet rain slanting through streets and alleyways.

(the chirping of the birds)
The rain calmed to a quiet murmur
and birds returned to chirp the 'all-clear',
or perhaps to goad their young chicks to grab the worms
that were driven rudely from their earthen worlds.

(the sound of the waves)
We strolled upon the shore, the waves gently gliding in
reminding us of the eternal rhythm of the outdoors;
the fresh air and vast spaces out here, just out of our reach,

spaces that nobody owned
that we in our boxed lives were not quite in tune with yet.

(the whistling and banging of the fireworks)
We finished the day with vivid fireworks,
some watched hand in hand
absorbing the exotic romance of the starlit night;
those hands were to be envied-

for they lead to hearts
to which the fireworks spoke most clearly.