Song for a City
Give me a city, glowing
with buildings, busy ̶
fruitful as a field
ready for farming
Give me a city calm within,
that feeds the hungry,
that will shore up
the power of hands.
Give me a city of colours,
tree-mottled, kaleidoscopic from
yellow fires to rosy dens,
arcane and blessed.
Give me a city at ease
with itself, that wears its heart
boldly, that heralds its river
with honour and caring.
Give me a city, open
to the skirr of gatherings,
channelling one generation
to the next.
Give me a city, enduring
and wise; listening
across centuries –
a cunabula of light.
Katherine Gallagher is a widely-published poet resident in London since 1979. She has six full poetry collections, most recently Acres of Light (Arc Publications, 2016) and Carnival Edge: New & Selected Poems (Arc Publications, 2010) – 'its natural territory the exotic and unknown, the fringe and carnivalesque.’ Poetry Review
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