The wailing wind and the city din,
The distant hoot as a train draws in.
The shy moon hides on this dark night,
Stars aren’t brighter than city lights,
As ashen clouds, like a lion’s mane,
Sail across the same skies again.

Take it in a while, you will know
The same art inspired us long ago,
When people thought of love and fate,
Earth rotations, the calender date;
Stood on the hill, looked at the sky,
Asked about the how and the why.

You see shadows trying to follow
Hurried figures, masked and hollow-
Figures chased by the tick and the tock
Of running hands of an idle clock.
Love’s in a cage they don’t stop to greet,
Calender dates are deadlines to meet.

When did we, with our virtue and vice,
Become prisoners of our own device?