This Faceless City

This is a faceless city; no dreams made here Though you walk past on every street, A face, a figure, a glimpse of shoes you Would surely buy. The night cools; A cold breeze stirs the crisp dry leaves, Their smell reminds me of the immutable Natural order of things, that we grow older. Autumn, when summer heat no longer excites The senses, nor fuels the self-deception that I should wait for you, that you will Seek me out, and Chase me again, As once before you chased me until I Caught you, a victim of my own shy Nature; trusting, naive wonder and belief. Within me there lies a foolish trust, an intuition That I cannot question, an instinct that deceives My cleverness, a hopefulness that blinds me, To vision true. My intellect lies; My emotions speak loud words of unreason, That you love me and my logic is unfounded, That your silence is fear of love, not my rejection. This faceless city chills my heart, and tells me I am older than I feel; none know me, So my sparkling wit has no sway, no foil to My un-noticed presence. A faceless city: Blank walls with empty eyes, forbidding doors, Like the wall you build to keep my presence From your world, shielding your bruised self. A gallant knight, I tilt at the windmills of Your rejection, blindly, senses deceived, Imagined victories hollow, fanciful dreams Phantoms in the mind, unreal. Vienna September 2016