City of Stone

by Lorna Smithers

I.

In the city of stone each soul stands alone

In the fallen north before Polaris.

Beyond the walls no borderland can survive.

In the city of stone there is no life.

The city of stone is built from the bones

Of children and forgotten fairy tales.

Its roofs are thatched by withered stories.

In the city of stone imagination dies.

In the city of stone bread from the bones

Must be kneaded for the giant with the concrete eye.

All of his gingerbread men have no eyes.

In the city of stone there is no sight.

II.

The city of stone was once the jewel

In the eye of the North Star,

Forged from dreams and redreamt from the echoes,

The city of stone was a city of art.

The city of stone was the starlit abode

Of lovers and bards whose unknown arts

Rescued worlds from the brink of catastrophe.

The city of stone was the jewel of the gods.

III.

In the city of stone no prayer can atone

For centuries built from broken bones.

Altars stand flowerless, libations run dry.

In the city of stone all memory has died.

In the city of stone the will must be honed

By re-envisaging the past from city walls,

Reading towers, archways and grotesques

In the city of stone each tale must be told.

The city of stone must be sung

And when it’s sung it will become the brightest jewel

In the eye of the gods before the North Star

The city of stone will welcome every soul.