Subways

I used to climb the soiled stairs, 

spiraling down within the city.

Each step brought me closer

to metal arteries. 

Pushing and pumping,

people with each timely pulse. 

Alone, I would descend

into the veins that chained this urban sprawl.

Down here, mass swaying,

blades of maize following a breeze

It was here, in the pirouette of

cigarette smoke, between street performers,

that my heart throbbed. 

My fingers no longer

danced along the metal rails. 

I do not yearn the

screech and scoffs

that shuddered the ground. 

The mass still swayed 

motionless, faceless bodies. 

In the black and white, 

cigarette butts bestrewed the ground.

And only a dysrhythmic heart remained.