Streets Quartet

By EleCivil

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  1. [Southern Security]
  2.  
  3. To Andover crossed with careful watch
  4. For fences left unlatched
  5. And dogs unchained in full disdain
  6. Of passing gratis glance
  7. At a corner there were two that stood
  8. Grinding gears for tongues
  9. But we were born a louder breed
  10. Barks rolling from our lungs
  11. Hold confidence in swinging hips
  12. In eyes a bluster lit
  13. For locks can claim their causes just
  14. And keep our legs unbit
  15. Though sad to see the chains and gates
  16. For safety comes a cost
  17. Our rolling freedom footfalls worth
  18. All paid in others' loss
  19.  
  20.  
  21. [Westerly Uncertainty]
  22.  
  23. To Vernice strode, beloved, quote
  24. Gypsies, release me this curse
  25. The world weighs down the ones
  26. Caught walking underneath
  27. And shoulders strong can crack along
  28. The ridges left by bricks
  29. Instead of trying to carry me home
  30. Just hold me close beside
  31. With caution calm and palm to palm
  32. We'll stumble over branches
  33. And break our knees together
  34. So matching casts our consciousness
  35. Can mend these fractured fortunes
  36. Futures welded warmest chance
  37. With coldest calculations
  38.  
  39.  
  40. [North-bound Breakspeed]
  41.  
  42. So Stickney stretched for miles on but only feet for us
  43. Before the train had roared across to carry
  44. Things we'd never get to see to places
  45. We'd never find the time to visit
  46. And left us running next to it
  47. In the opposite direction
  48. And running
  49. Parallel
  50. We could almost
  51. Catch up
  52. But then
  53. We fell back
  54. Again
  55. And
  56. Were
  57. Almost
  58. Moving
  59. Back
  60. Wards...................................It
  61. Took....................................Us
  62. An..................................Entire
  63. Train's...........................Length
  64. To......................................Go
  65. ........................................Just
  66. ........................................Two
  67. ....................................Blocks
  68. ......................With heavy wind
  69. .................Resistance pressing
  70. .........Against our faces, throats
  71. ......And arms until it sped, sped
  72. Up and left us to move at our own speed again
  73.  
  74. Time travel is dangerous for the inexperienced
  75. But we, we tame minutes with meticulous
  76. Methods developed in the most secret of ways
  77. Running next to the trains and raising our voices,
  78. “Let not this slipping second buck me from my well-earned seat,
  79. This saddle lashed across the back of concepts abstract,
  80. Atop a minute molded of pure activity!”
  81.  
  82.  
  83. [Eastern Optimism]
  84.  
  85. At Gibson's end came small surrenders
  86. In the form of a chain-link fence
  87. And a gate with locks clicked tightly closed
  88. In an intimidating click-clack dance
  89.  
  90. “This gate! This gate!”
  91. I used to cry
  92. When it towered high above my head,
  93. “Some day I swear I'll be strong enough
  94. To rip it right off of its stand!”
  95.  
  96. And now just a well-placed shoulder nudge
  97. Could rob it of its vertical might
  98. But if I tore it down now,
  99. If I let us all out,
  100. I'd be dealing us a terrible slight
  101.  
  102. Because, unburdened, the ones here now
  103. What could they hope to do?
  104. With no gate to smash,
  105. No cage to shake,
  106. They'd have no goal of breaking through
  107.  
  108. No, for now, this bastard stands
  109. With his wind-rattled icy glare
  110. For I know now
  111. What I couldn't have guessed,
  112. That it holds not the ones who leave it there
  113.  
  114. So grow with a rust-lusty sense of sickness
  115. At the Gate that holds us in
  116. And when you're strong enough to knock it down
  117. You'll join in knowing how weak it is.