You suffocate me, yet

In strange ways you liberate;

Inwards I walk, yet

I see the shadows of my thoughts

Reflected

Upon your bridges, columns and arches—

More than two centuries old

Their cold largess

Inspires ideology,

And drives me mad

With lust for revolution.

You bred me in your body, yet

Ravenous, I feed

Upon your dying flesh,

Just as you devour my life-force

To sustain your hunger;

Your poets, your songs, your insanity—

Are mine to hold,

Just as my loves and desires

Are yours to engulf.

Tomorrow,

An alien space may take hold,

And unwalked streets may seduce,

But you will cling

Through known voices and faces,

And, even as I lie dying

You will absorb my traces.