There are trees near the side of the road...

Strong and starkly beautiful.
They are filled with gentle strength.
Reaching upwards, dark against
The clear, blue sky.

Straight and true,
The stand curving upwards.
Waiting patiently for spring
They grow strong together.

Holding secrets, memories
and hiding places.
Deeply rooted in the ground,
Firm and unmoving.

Today,
the tree watches sadly,
a hundred years
of what we might have become.
Every day he sighs,
while roots struggle
through cracks in the pavement.
Each day is a torment
that nobody hears,
lost in sirens and
unearthly noise.
Each day they all smile,
trapped behind bars
in a fortress of stone
and of fear.
The city teems every night
in unholy light
and traffic throbs