I walk the streets where you used to live; the city you thrived in
The city you fell in love with; the city that set you free
while at the same time crippling you – taking away any sense of coherency
But, you, you were alright, you were a shining star; you were on fire
The pretty boy with the moody green eyes, the seductive faraway stare
You lived in the city that pulled you over the edge
Submerging you into darkness, driving you to cut deeper
until your art bled into oblivion
Your creative energy dripped like an intravenous
main lining junkie; scores strewn across the floor
Your best work, your brilliance blinds
The toll – twenty years of your precious life
Twenty years of a collective genius

I walk the streets where you used to live,
the city you played in, wishing I had known you then –
The clubs filled with locals 1970-something vagabonds,
creative types; the abstract overly talented
movers and shakers – to the point of their own absurdity,
just to catch a glimpse of your vibrancy –
Bringing out the lacking in their own luster
You were one of a kind, a rare find
Unique in a time of originality
An artist to your core, and yet between all the lines
praise, paranoia and deception the purity of your soul
was lost on most and stolen from you before you understood
what it meant to have a life; only to let life have you –
Twenty years you said, twenty years and it had to end
There was joy in your eyes as they took you away; a sense of peace
We didn’t realize our last kiss was an unknown…farewell
Finally, twenty years lost and finally you had it all
And in that finality, in a moment, in an instant,
– you were gone…

I walk the streets in the city you loved
I walk the streets of Tribeca, imagine running into you  –
Our eyes would meet, on some magical level
there is a glimmer of recognition
You would smile only slightly then turn away
I’d write my name on a piece of paper
and slip it into your pocket as you brush past  –
Looking back knowing you will find it and fall in love with me
…someday

© 2020 TrilbyYates