This is Sonnet 1 in a series of 4. All written about the same topic and based on this image. The thoughts came to me for this sketch and the sonnets after a recent trip to NYC, seeing the buildings at Rockefeller Center and Times Square, being in the subway, and walking the streets at sunrise. I just started wondering who really built all of this, why the rich are so revered by the masses, and why a carnival man is able to achieve. It is at the expense of those who were
passed by
in shadows cast by gleaming, towering spires
invisible, unseen, they walk
their silent pleas, their unmet desires
unheard beneath the ceaseless talk.
no begging hands, no outstretched plea
they wander hungry, lost in days
their empty stomachs, hollowed, free
no hope, no care, in myriad ways.
gaunt frames drift through crowded streets
each step a treatment to pain
their eyes, a mirror of defeat
reflect the loss, the endless strain.
once they boiled to build the dream
now cast aside, they choke a scream.
Drew Frederic