Lights Out

 

The City by Frans Masereel

A child is crying somewhere, unable to voice his demands in words yet. 

A cooker whistle shrieks, calling the woman back into her kitchen from the juicy sitcom.

A dog barks at the approaching night, scaring the tiny rat back in his hole.

A man is leaning on his windowsill, complaining about his day over a cigarette. 

A radio is playing some old tunes, calling nostalgia and bygone lovers to mind.

A group of kids run by, their stamping feet a call to action.

A God is being summoned, with the sound of the conch shell. 

Everything sounds louder in here, Anamika thinks.

She never knew how a heartbeat sounded like before moving to the city. 

She never thought the ticking of the clock could be so deafening.

She never understood what people meant by screaming silence. 

As the city noises cacophony around her, she thinks,

"This is how the eye of the storm must feel like.

Surrounded by destruction, a solitary piece of heaven."