City Of Souls

Collaboration with the very talented "The Viking", it has been an honour working with a man with a brilliant mind, and great ideas. Any errors are down to me!

A truck stop on the Souls Highway

My foot and tires find rest on the gravel

Beneath a moon I faintly recognize.

Down this midnight interstate I’ve travelled,

Far away from the City of Souls.

My feet itch, My palms sweat

Faint whisper of beckoning opportunity

Passage of time offering sweet immunity

Where all my ghosts can be laid to rest.

Sit with me, honey, in this dusty light.

Your eyes look heavy in that pretty face.

A sorrow weighs upon your heart tonight;

Let’s have a drink before the highway calls.

Tell this stranger a secret,

And maybe I'll tell you some of mine.

City of old seeped in dust and mayhem

Hungry pavements swallow every love song

Lyrics twisted into the raw bitter end

Sung shallow with empty emotion

Love trapped in colours of rainbows

Bowing in solitude, weeping with loneliness.

I could tell you a similar story,

Of streets that reek of gasoline and rage.

A sodium beacon between Los Angeles and Hell.

Jutting from the desert like a steel Jericho

In this city, gunslingers fell,

In this city, mad ghosts do tell.

I have seen the rivers of freedom

Visionary grasps in beckoning dreams

Gulping sweetness of pure oxygen

I swear, likened to town of Bethany

Where no twisted bitterness exists

No land of heartbroken casualties

They told me all this, of Paradise bliss

Suitcase packed, ghosts I escape

So take me, take me to this place.

I knew an earthbound Heaven like you speak

A port anointed in crystal moonlight.

The energy of the night could strike you blind,

Igniting the purest fires between hearts.

This desert, though, holds no place like that.

No Mount of Olives or waking Lazarus.

I ask, from your ghosts do you truly escape

Or into the arms of demons do you run?

My ghosts track beating of my heart

My demons restless each day after dark

I see you, we share the same cup

And yet,hollow are your bones, eyes of sorrow

Cold is the air, your skin paper thin

What is it my travelling friend that haunts you?

Where do I end and you begin?

Are your memories telling of my extinction?

Extinction would be a blessing

Once locked in that concrete labyrinth.

It is a hub of divinites and ghosts,

Where none are meant to linger.

It is Sheol and Abaddon.

I happened by it in ages past,

Only to fulfill a judgment upon my soul.

I burned to the ground the place I called Heaven

And for this I wander between worlds,

Hovering through the ages.

As for your end, the choice be yours.

For you will pass through this City regardless.

You could live out your illusion and stay,

Forever a spirit when dust claims your bones

Or keep driving through without looking back

To an unwritten future ahead.

I abandon into your words

my nervous hands flutter

beating like wings of a bird snared

slapping sullen bitter air

lights flash behind my eyes

squeezing back the tired years,

I am breathless, I am home

Salty rivers, hopelessly alone

Have I sung my last song

Entering your dying paradise?

Shame burns my pale skin

Your angel feathers dying

land softly at my feet

Don't fear destiny, love.

This chance meeting in this dingy bar

Appeared in the stars ages before,

And unstitched events that chaotically swarm

Close together ultimately in the eye of God.

I'd best hit the road and so should you,

Before the morning gets too old.

Had I met you in another lifetime,

I'm sure my story would've been ours.

But my love waits in another world

Patiently waiting in the ocean moon.

I must escape the first rays of Dawn

Yet toward Dawn's light you must drive.

Two pairs of headlights travel down the Soul's Highway.

Reviews

[bluessadmood]

My God this is so heavenly my friend,as one else down said,it shows our restlessness,and disappointment
we just cant track and follow the hurried steps of this long journey,how it turned out to be so tiresome
how i am always afraid of whats coming and how i will be..i am full frightening illusions ,they never leave
should life always be like this..always thought it was a heavenly journey ,but as always i was wrong
far from that ..its always a constant run from ghosts and deamons,they will never leave me alone
and i seek help in every soothing word ,tender nerves always were mine,would not go with this life
we did not fit and never will..always looked for romance and simplicity ,always was given just the opposite
how i enjoyed all this ,what a great write..i would love to dive more into it..it was like a huge sea of thoughts
lovely write..

[Trish D.]

Loved all of this. Thanks

[Drea]

Very nice collaboration. Thank you both for reminding us that our happiness is a matter of how we choose to act in the life we have created for ourselves rather than in the one we might have had if other choices had been made. It is indeed "another life" we have left behind each day we make our choices. But it is this life we have chosen to live in. Where we are now and if we choose to find the happiness in it.

[sharonlee]

Mesmerizing.... I clung to every word..... an epic journey for the reader.... probably the best collaboration I've ever read.... thank you...

[Lachenille Papillion]

Great collaboration. So often the individual voices of the piece became one to my readers ear. Change the thought from city, state, or country to heart, body, and soul and that's how I read it... big hugs

[Dezaraye]

I think we all feel this restlessness within us at points in our lives. My thinking is that it comes from my soul missing my Heavenly home. That ... or discontentment with the status quo.

I love how you two capture this so eloquently. I floated through your words without a single shudder or shake. It's breathtaking.

[Ladysue]

Good insight and writing...very refreshing read...

[Phill Oz O'fee]

I read through the other reviews and my own thoughts parallel the views ‘Emma’ posted. The interaction of style and the creative imagery mesh into a magnificent composition. Congratulations to you both for setting a standard others should be aspired to emulate.

It is a refreshingly good poetical story bookish read!

Phil

[Randall Andrews]

I think that the imagery is different from the poem itself. Lots of fantastic writing for a collaboration. Good work.

[Bard Constantine]

An impressive collaboration. It's much harder to blend one's writing with another's, but the both of you intertwine quite well. I liked the world-weary voices, distinct while similar in theme. Fantastic work...