city nights

Distant clouds oozed thick globs of oily night, smothering the neon hum of Downtown.

A lost soul, ragged and beaten, searched for forgotten hope alongside a fox that lingered in the flat-line shadows of first light.

From an open window somewhere up the street, a newborn baby cried out, then fell silent.

Rain began to smudge the greying pavement below and the city breathed again.