I'll Always Remember

Sometimes, I miss the city

A longing for what I left behind

I traded concrete pavements for green pastures

Replaced the red brick of project buildings

With endless rows of suburban houses

The kind with front yards I’d only seen

In every Hallmark Christmas movie

Guarded by wooden fences, not metal gates

No fire escapes or bars on windows

No car horns or blazing sirens

But crickets singing in the night

Where streetlamps never hide the stars

And fluffy clouds in bright blue sky

Aren’t blocked by skyscrapers or scaffolding

The air smells like grass, not exhaust

Wildlife is more than pigeons and squirrels

People smile at you without pick-up lines

And they never try to get your number

It’s the kind of peace I always dreamed of

But, oh, how I miss the crowded streets

Where bodegas sit on every corner

And the sound of Salsa and Hip-hop collide

Over voices of neighbors that speak too loudly

Who shout as they slam dominoes on tables

The children play in open hydrants

And Uber saves me from drunken train rides

At 4am with my best friends

Stumbling out cheap bars into cheaper delis

Laughing at strangers that are laughing at us

As we struggle to make it up the stairs

Of our humble apartments, where we collapse

Sinking straight into our bed sheets

Uncaring of what the next day may bring

Because we finally made it home