the city

The city rose up in a moment,
but as I approached
the idea of it
was losing stones.

With every landing I staired onto,
another tower fell.

I could feel the floor beneath me
giving way,
the beams growing thinner
and thinner,
spanning further and further
from their material into splinters of meaning;

The columns,
no longer able to support
the image of a portico,
rolling out of their flutes
as they twisted to the ground;

The walls too,
providing no resistance,
breaching their foundations-
leaving their old footings
for new directions;

The facades peeling away
from what they once had signified;

the statues sliding off their bases
into the crowd
of unrecognizable pieces
that now surround me.