Mississippi Swells

Mississippi swells I know
 Ever-drawing line to another time
 To the sirens of Chicago
 Or Memphis' eerie glow
 Not quite cause you're chosen so
 But in drains we draw in to drown
 It's such a small town so your instincts made you go
 And you reflect on things you now know
 Like how Cindy said "it all seems the same"
 Embedded in patterns you don't notice
 The features out of focus
 It's a shame
 The flashlight just falls in the direction you're headed
 But you just knew there's nothing to gain
 No measure of light among the sightless, immobilized and righteous
 It was pain
 So you pointed your beam in the direction of anywhere
 And though urbanity was not without its flaws
 You found the time and space you'd need to sharpen your claws
 And hone your eyesight on the skeletons upon which all your little interactions carry on
 Those that are visible and not
 Metaphysical and hot
 The anatomy of everything
 So when I got to your city, it was summer
 It was pretty and we walked around because we had the time
 You remarked on all the places that you hadn't seen in ages
 Disconnected from the metro city lines
 And on the closed doors of the fire stations
 Testament to forced displacement
 Shocked me so to see it from the ground
 What seemed so functional from great heights looking down
 But cities observed from planes
 At some point, so deceptively, all start to look the same
 You get distracted by the light below the clouds
 It seems to shine on through the night, you know
 And how it seems so lit up to some line
 Feel the brightness so confined
 Only skyscrapers shine
 The tallest buildings do define
 In letters now you wonder
 The lights you're living under
 And the vantage points you've yet to even come upon
 You dream of transportation, infrastructure, the bus stations
 On the blocks between the shops the lights flicker on and off and on
 And my imagination too travels those streets
 Thinking of places and the people that we meet
 And conversations with strangers on bus seats
 Like you and Arthur on the
 The fading from sight of the day
 Saying "Oh it is magical and cold
 The place where cities and starscapes collide"
 I think of the people alive and awake on Magnolia's steep side
 The living room lamps and the headlights of cars are like fireflies in the night sky