Cruel City, Comely City

By Nandini Tyagi

In a city, not as beautiful

as the countryside it came from

Founded

but immortal

There, before me 

And

Here, after you.

With Delhi’s food

Paris’s snark

Madrid’s sunshine

A capital is formed.

Around the corners that make it up

We walk.

with angst toward locals who don’t treat the strange with kindness

and

enamored by the distinct architecture so different from where we come from

The Heimatstil of the Swiss

The pinks and orange of Rome’s neighborhoods

The brickwork of London

Filled with people,

stories and laughter

Some moan about unfortunate robbings

Or

torrential rain

While others laugh about

jovial times visiting a museum 

And

eating good food.

One often forgets

Beyond the places and things

Beyond being bound

to a material world.

Cities are made

of nothing more

than a person

and a people

At home

or

so very far away from it