To Dream Past the Darkness of this City

In the darkness, I am lost.
The city is crumbling around me,
And all that remains are the shadows of people long gone.
The only light in this dark world is the one
That burns in my heart--and it's slowly fading away.

I try to find my way,
But I can't see a thing in this broken place.
The only sound is the rustle of dried leaves
And the occasional howl of a lost soul.
This city is cold and dark,
And it's taking everything that I have to stay alive.

But I refuse to give up,
No matter how hard the darkness tries to take me away.
I will never let this city break me,
Or ruin the dreams that are still burning inside of me.
Even if it means standing alone in the darkness.

This was a poetic tale from the city of Lazarus, A dystopian metropolis half sunken in the sea, along with ai art created with stable diffusion inspired by the words of the poem. War and climate change took its toll on this and every other city we know. This is one of many short tales of a young woman and her daily life surviving in the ruble of the modern world.