Existential
written by: Anthony John Ward
Where did they all go, I wonder,
As I wander this new wilderness
Absorbed in the loneliness I once felt when I was alone amongst the people,
In the crowd feeling anxious, as if I were being judged by the noise of eyes.
Now I feel as if I’m being judged behind the blackened windows,
Making me even more vulnerable
As I patrol these empty city streets, reminded of the people that ran their lives here
As if it was the only place to live.
The rat race that invested the foundations of these steel stalagmites,
Standing monolithic in sagging torsion,
Inanimate and devoid of the flow that kept them teeming with life,
An organic respiration of determination and perseverance,
Monumental relics of a ruined appetite spoiled by insatiability.
The songs they repeatedly hummed,
Now a captive echo of the buzzing energy that kept things moving.
Empty cars strewn like abandoned bodies on a battlefield,
Unable to stir without a soul,
Their essence removed, discarded like tin cans.
Like this wasteland that towers above me,
It looks unfinished,
Like a symphony,
Static in silence,
Everything manmade remains motionless and still,
Devoid of being as nature rekindles its past,
Growing stronger and taller as it regains its space.
How long have I been gone?
A traffic light stares at me with its soulless eye
Stuck on green.
Am I to just keep on moving?
Am I the last one left?
I remember how I once longed to be alone with my thoughts,
And now that I’m alone I’ve no one to share them with.
If a tree falls in a wood and nobody is around, does it make a sound?
If I am the only person alone in the world, do I really exist?
NOTE:
Based on the Prompt – Echoes of a Silent City
- Existential - August 28, 2025
- Precipitation to Throw Down - July 26, 2025
- Traversing Time - June 5, 2025
