I asked for A City

I asked for a city, you gave me its parts.

I wanted a machine, an unrelenting automaton.

You gave me its people.

You gave me their emotions, their creations, their charity, their sin.

I never asked for all this.

I never asked for the thought-provoking ramblings of a beggar.

I never asked for the rhapsody of a lone saxophone player.

I never asked for the smell of rain on asphalt.

All this,

the thoughts of a young philosopher on a train,

the gaze of a hopeless romantic at a café,

the glimmer in a woman's eyes as a car passes by in the rain,

I asked for an emotionless machine, an unwavering citadel of apathy.

I never asked for this.

I asked for a city, you gave me its parts, Thank You.

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