City Lights

City Lights

When I lay my eyes on the city lights,
it feels as if a million stars
have fallen gently into the sky.
I sit in the back of a car
with no destination,
my thoughts wandering
as if they already know
what they came to feel.

The hum of tires
whispers of an endless ride.
And somehow,
the city speaks to me at night.
It remembers the stories I told,
the songs I used to sing.
It tells me of the nights
I stayed awake
just to feel alive again.
It remembers the people I loved,
the letters I wrote but never sent.

The city was there
when I needed a walk,
when I needed to be alone,
but didn’t want to be.

Sometimes,
I hear it whisper my name
like it misses me.
It shows me a stop sign
when it knows I need a break.
The soft breeze reminds me:
you need a little cold
to feel warmth again.
And the raindrops,
they tell me it’s okay to cry,
to feel calm again afterward.

The cars
remind me that life goes on,
even when it feels like the end 

when it seems to stop for a while.

But the lights,
they were never there to teach me.
They were there
to light my path,
to sit with me
on the loneliest nights.
To listen
when no one read my letters,
heard my songs,
or knew my stories.

They kept me warm
when I forgot I mattered.
They stayed
when no one else did.

And that’s when I realized;
life isn’t about having all the answers,

it's about learning to live with the questions.

Author's Note

For the nights you couldn't sleep 🩶

Reviews

[Broken.buddy]

so many nights I cant sleep as well, your use of personification in converting The city to a character that "speaks to me at night" and "remembers the stories I told" is beautiful, I live in a remote place so I hear the rivers and more :)

The city lights being framed as "a million stars," made me remember the lines "as above, so below". Well done on the imagery choices here.

[M 💕]

Thank you so much! I’m really glad this poem resonated with you. I think it’s beautiful that you live somewhere where you can hear the rivers, that sounds so peaceful. Nature has its own kind of voice, just like the city does, and I love how we each connect to different things in our own way.

I really appreciate that you noticed the personification, the city almost feels like a quiet friend to me in this poem, and it’s lovely to hear that came through for you. And I love the reference to “as above, so below”, such a perfect way to put it.

Thank you again for your thoughtful words. It truly means a lot :)