Mein Herz

Mein Herz 

As columns that underpin my heart 

     My arteries flow and connect 

     My lungs, material of atmosphere— 

Internal contrasts with external— 

Lamps atop columns spaced yards and yards 

     Apart along the city's arteries 

Where cars with hearts and breathing lungs 

Speed past each other unlike creatures long

Ago when there weren't cars, nor lights 

At night, and people huddled in homes 

Afraid of that night, afraid of others' 

Beating hearts, and whose desires quickened 

     Or extinguished others' breath— 

     Eternal's contrast with internal.