The Lily

I left a sign with a candle

In the streetlight that shone below

Where through the night

The people dance in linen and smoke

I still remember her song in my head

Each palm in time

Every face in that light

As their mouths bellowed

Now they tell me she’s just vanished

Some other place by the sea

But to me she was banished

By herself not by me

And though I still remember

The streetlights are low

Now dull in the night

And the dance has gone quiet

But the sea still bellows

See the island on fire

And the towers align;

Built in silos of sea

Underneath every street

Lily spoke of a city’s bones

An ancient rubble of time and stone

Where the walls tremor under the sky

Covered day after day by the tide

Could I save them if I tried?

If only I could

We shine our light across the ocean

A Troy this city has burned

We shine our light across the ocean

A fire on ships will return

We shine our light