The ribbon of pellucid water unfurled through the downtown,
wending through high-rises and multistory parking garages.

The thin strand cut a clear path through the boxy urban landscape,
flowed past the flanking condos, blocks of concrete aggregated en masse.

A steady stream of joggers and cyclists trickled by the waterway.
People strode, strolled, rode e-scooters, moved with varied propulsion.

Skyscrapers towered off in the distance like a broken promise,
an elevation that was unscalable, forever illusory, ever eluding one’s path.