Last Call, San Francisco

So long ago I fell in love,

that night I turned my back upon the ocean

and placed my throat between your  ragged teeth,

heart left bleeding at your feet.

The night, your voice, a broken promise of just one more second chance

to waste upon us no-accounts, us two bit good for nothings

who long to hear you speak,

if only empty words.

Such shining moments, these table scraps,

and I, a shameless scavenger.

So long ago I fell in love,

when you were all there was of home,

lighting the faces of late-night ghosts with thousand-year stares

made hollow by loneliness,

when you would shine from their vacancies

like sodium lights,

like sickness.

So long ago I fell in love

with my city of imperfect danger,

damaged and blighted,

rust and iron in war.

But the streets, now sterilized, have grown silent and sleep,

while I struggle to remember

just how long ago it was you left me

and became this bloodless stranger.