The rain falls
Unapologetically onto the city streets.
The girl is walking.
Her black eyeliner
Runs in melancholy streaks
Down her worn expression–
She is numbed by pain
And empty inside, now.
They’ve both left her
And now she is truly alone.
She wanders the avenues
Clutching her belly.
Strangers with umbrellas
Glide past her,
Trying to shut out
Her silent desolation.
And on a certain street corner
Where they sell pasta, and coffee,
She chokes on a sob
And begins to weep,
Drowning the rain with her tears.

The rain falls
Thoughtlessly onto the empty streets.
The boy is running.
His tangled hair
Soaks in the torrents,
Slaps his face
With every footfall;
He smiles, triumphantly.
He is finally free–
The downpour has washed away
All of the heaviness around him.
Mouth open,
He drinks in this moment
Of life
And laughs out loud
At his own folly.
Passers-by
Draw their umbrellas
Closer to themselves
As he streaks past;
They ignore
His blustering celebration.
And near a particular traffic light
Where he said goodbye
And did not look back,
His heart bursts forth with song,
Loud enough to overwhelm
The rolling thunder overhead.

And near a silent payphone
Under an open sky
A grinning young man
Wipes a streak of sorrow
From the face of a strange girl,
And, puzzled by compassion,
Their lips meet–
And the traffic glides past,
Unnoticing.