Echo Park

The buildings looked beautiful

The Los Angeles skyline
shimmering off the lake's surface
and a fountain like a firework
in jubilee

3AM in Downtown
Not a soul

The palm trees surrounding the water's edge
frame the financial institutions that once swelled to touch the sky
but they crumble from within

I walked through her streets
and went in circles
I went to a bar
and satiated no thirst
I enjoyed good company
and still felt isolated

But buildings
and parks
and potholed roads

I understood them

I knew they felt empty sometimes
An hour past last call
But they
and I
Still aspired to something greater

What a spectacular view
This portrait before dawn

Such a radiant display
Grandiose posturing from a model who could do no less
I felt something in me
maybe it was love

But I cannot say