Dark Side

• Alexandra Peach, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2018

I stand there, the hard concrete, solid and strong, lights glitter, dancing across shiny car roofs, moving slowly through city traffic, the fumes sting my nose as they drift up into the bright blue carpet above.
Tall, glossy, new, buildings reach up and up all around me, stretching like arms trying to grab the sun.
The warm summer breeze pulls my hair back, I can feel the silk from my light summer dress brush my leg, soft, light and flowing.
Yellow taxis fly past me, the hum from their engines fill the air, adverts all over every surface, flashing and competing for my attention.

I wander down a busy street filled with tourists, chattering and shouting.
Business men stand on the side of the road stretching their arms out, casting long shadows onto the road as the sun starts to set.
Pinks, purples and buttery yellow colour the sky.
The street opens up in a market on a patch of green lush grass.
Right next to the water, splashing and laughing, as the last light of the day makes it go clear like a shiny new crystal.
Spices, herbs, cooking food, hits my nose,

I continue down the island and as I walk the sun sinks down.
Darkness.
I walk and walk the grass looks yellow, dry and crispy in the moon light.
A man holds out a cup to me, stretching his arms out, a young man dirty, the hairs in his beard tangle like vines deep in the rainforest.
Next to him another man older and more worn, then a young girl no older than me, hair knotty and unkempt.
They just sit there, their skin is cold to touch, they are dirty and alone.