Sun draping over gray cobblestones,
Flooding the enclosed forum,
Enclosed by leaning homes, protecting, sealing
Enclosed but open, vast with voices
Calling, running, spreading love for life
Seeping happiness to the stranger's eye
United through memories of knowing, understanding, seeing
She sits alone, her back to meaningless chatter
She sits and listens to how many different sounds are needed
Creating clouds of confusion
Of incomprehensible, raw noise
Fingers tracing the bottle's lips
Smooth edges, smooth but thick
Like a heavy, quiet meal
Like the way you can stare without looking up
Concentrating on the very breaths
Breaths filling the room until it will burst
Like firecrackers dancing, escaping from the crowd
Tearing the darkened sky
But once they've exhausted the energy to explode, they quickly fade
The crowd still gathering, unanimous
Satisfied to be celebrating,
But when the night is over
Crammed rooms await.