A warm and muggy night,
a frenzied city in respite,
the clouds overhead shine,
from all the city lights

Concrete blocks stacked to the sky,
reaching to the clouds up high,
within a city of millions,
but not a known soul nearby

Surrounded by an endless sea,
filled with sleeping neighbors,
here alone, I can be free,
a chance to simply be

There are always others about,
from the neon-lit bars,
to clubs where they dance and shout,
until last call and lights out

But I won't find answers there,
and all that's waiting at home,
is yet another nightmare,
so I press on, going somewhere

Empty freeways stretch on and on,
the very first place I'm drawn,
here on the vacant pavement,
I can drive until dawn

A quiet park bathed in shadow,
sitting here all alone,
under the city's glow,
as if it's all a private show

On a ghostly silent campus,
between a library and church,
faithless prayer or books and research
I don't know which to search

I used to dread this loneliness,
within the empty city lights,
I could see only bleakness,
for the morning, I was anxious

I filled my time with friends and drink,
while chasing tail and catching pink,
and whatever thrills I could find,
all to avoid a moment to think

But now I'm chasing midnight,
in the calm of a city's slumber,
until the break of daylight,
within the glow of city lights