Midnight Sun

It’s three AM and it looks like it might be four PM outside.

The sun hangs a little lower than one might think,

But it’s still shining.

Everyone has their curtains drawn.

Little displays in every window behind them,

Vignettes of lives I will never get to know,

But hope to understand someday.

The city sleeps,

But not me.

Not you.

We walk.

Hand in hand through streets that feel abandoned,

But not by life.

Just by the inhabitants and tourists.

All the shops are shuttered,

But the shutter on my camera is relentless.

Click.

Click.

Click.

This must be what it feels like,

To have the world end beneath you.

Sun in the sky

Empty streets.

Cats prowling for the ambitious bird.

Below our feet, the earth churns and roils.

The eruption is quiet but not finished.

It will begin again as soon as we leave.

Click.

Click.

Click.

The sound of my camera.

The sound of our shoes.

It’s just us left.

And that’s how I want it.