Poetry
The City Hood
Long ago and far away
We sat on the hillside looking out over the city At all the myriad lights On that night so long ago. The girl beside me shivered I wrapped my jacket around her And told her how much I cared Then we drove into the city And through the slums a bit Remembering that from the hillside It all looked so clean and pure. We could see the traffic Crossing the bridge Red on the right, white on the left. It all seemed so orderly So quiet, such a delight From up there on the hill But now in the bowels of the city Horns blared, brakes squealed Rubbish scattered about A stench filled the air. So many things are like that Beautiful from afar, but close in Ugliness bares its fangs. We said goodbye, she and I Our paths they did diverge Like those two roads In the village wood But ours in the streets Of the city hood.
© Bob Jasper 2021. All rights reserved.
This is my entry for day 16 of the Writer’s Digest Poem-A-Day challenge — A “city poem.” Inspiration came from a time I picked up my girlfriend and drove up into the Berkeley Hills, parked and looked out over the San Francisco Bay Area back in 1965. We were both students at UC Berkeley at the time.
Happy Reading, Writing, Remembering and Connecting!
Some previous entries, if you’d care to take a look. As always, thank you for your time and comments. Have a blessed day!
