Thoughts on a Cold February Night in Lower Manhattan

by George Grace

 

The loneliness cut through my soul

Like the unrelenting cold air

Blistering through the canyons of lower Broadway

Shaking off its granite restraints to lose itself

in the whirlwind of New York harbor

Those hollowed streets where ticker tape flew

For reasons both pedestrian and sublime

Our paths crisscrossing over decades

Each person lost in their thoughts

Their worries tailored to their particular vulnerability

Our connection displaced by time

If I could only tell them now that their life mattered

That their little heroisms where not in vain

That the river of humanity runs through each one of them

And now I shiver, at the apex

Like them I leave my invisible imprint on the hard, blue slate below

But I am comforted by the warmth that they shared,

The warmth that never dissipates

An ember of love, given

A smile

~

George E. Grace is a commercial real estate broker and consultant by day, and an avid poet and writer by night. George is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law (JD), University of Chicago (MBA) and Cooper Union (BE). He is the son of William J. Grace, Sr., a published poet and Shakespearean and Milton scholar, where he credits his passion for words, ideas, and the art of communication.