Hauptstadt

I walked tonight
Beneath the stars and ancient ruins
Among elated crowds
Laughing old men
Staring young women
Travelers and tourists
And locals and people like me
In-between-men.

And my city let me know
Or perhaps I let her say
That, finally, she knew me.

And I drew her breath
When the breeze was off course
The remnant of a thousand gifts
I took so much for granted
For too long.

I bled in foreign places
Some strange, some small
Revisiting small dents
In the low doors of memory.

And this place
Was always a point in my head
For departures or retreats
Never a home, mostly a castle
Where the spoils would be brought
To be feasted upon.

But I walked on her skin
And for a second, she crept beneath my own
Spreading the warmth of a million wars
A city that can suffer anything
And still remain eternal
A city feared by those outside
Who know simplicity as order
A city where the girls wear no masks
A right you earn under a teargas sun
And as I sank in her skin
Like the smallest of lovers
Like a mite on the left hand of god
I drank, again and again
I drank and I slid
Slid from her lips down to her bosom
No longer a man of in-between
No longer a lie scrawled on the mirror
I slid into what I could do
And with our common lips, I smiled.