In a city of shadows and faded smiles

In a city of shadows and faded smiles, where tears flow beneath slow eyelids, lost souls seek refuge, people frozen in their own chimera, aged too soon by the fear of change, as life's tectonic plates collide, and they sway in a cradle of illusions, believing eternity unfolds beneath their steps. Under the gray sky of forgotten promises, hide the shelters of the mind, bunkers of thoughts, where they retreat, trembling, afraid to lose the fragments of peace they've buried deep. Time passes like a dream, without noise, without echo, and they, prisoners of routine, slowly pour their souls into crystal glasses, sipping from an eternity that does not belong to them. But what are they, these strangers to sun and wind, if not ghosts in cloaks of comfort, with hearts enclosed in cardboard boxes, believing the world will stop to wait for them? They build walls themselves with bricks of silence, and love turns into a cold wind, carried far away, in days when the sky was clear, but they have forgotten to see, to feel, to be. In the silent night, when stars disappear, questions are born like butterflies, from the cocoon of fear, and perhaps, eventually, they will understand that life is not a straight path, but a journey through labyrinths of dreams and desires, where only the brave find their way to the light, but until then, they remain, dreamers in shadow, longing for an eternity they cannot grasp.