Between Today and Tomorrow

        from an artwork by Wenquing Yan,
        the DeviantArt user yuumei

Ahead of me they walk,
uncaring, unassuming,
as I glance behind and know that this
is the price of living.

Around me, the world changes
for better and worse, and
the old buildings crumble, their wood
dull, derelict.
The streets are cracked, lined
with weeds that push
through concrete, the leaves
withered from the poinsoned air.

On the other side, blocked
by links of cool, grey iron,
new buildings reach skyward,
cold and imposing to my eyes.
These streets are golden,
clean and new, untainted
by the city, that
around us, dies.

Ahead, Kai makes a joke
about his sister, how she is
excited for tonight, for
the show. And
Ling smiles, ushers
us on toward the building
I have come to hate and
love: the school.

Later, as I lean against
the fence that marks
the edge of the building, I
wonder, and not
for the first time, if
the place I grew up
is among those that,
tomorrow, will be demolished.

Above me, the stars,
the lights of my fellow Knites, shine
against the black-smog that
makes up our sky. Below me
the city waits, hushed and
dying, and a little girl
watches with big, round eyes,
searching for delusions she's been told to hold on to.

Kai appears behind me,
silent, eyebrow cocked.
Without a word, I attach
the string to the kite and,
without waiting for the wind,
lift them skyward. A breeze
tugs the kite higher, and I watch
as stars rejoin the night sky.