Building and Burning (Inspired By 'The Streets Have No Name'

When I walked into the evening The broken leaves began to laugh The moon was almost smiling And the sky was torn in half In the one half lay the darkness In the other steeped the stars And I thought for just a minute That the sky was throwing sparks. There were people holding hands as They danced around a lake That the moon was being born in And their song now makes me ache. There was a soldier on a hilltop And the sun it was his friend So large it turned the sky red And gave away the story's end. On the corner of the street Was a playground lined with swings And I could only see it Through the strange metallic strings. And screaming to horizon Was demanding desert sky And I lived in an apartment With the A. C. turned up high. I banged the flimsy screen door And disappeared that quick Past the parking lot and drug store In shining Spanish brick. There are boxes, open doorways To let in the warm light night There are rows of harmless houses Shining on the stars outside. In the broken, golden leaf-fall There are girls with determined hair That claim they have found lost streets, That Bono showed them where. In the half with more than darkness Are harmonics of the stars And I looked from side to side Then I knew the sky threw sparks