2

Percussion on the rooftops: bass on the road below my feet, a tenor of splashing beneath the spouts. A symphony of strings rushes through the gutters. A rolling of brass as the occasional vehicle winds its way through. Woodwinds play through the branches of the trees. My feet keep time on the pavement, as for a moment in time, I join the orchestra of nature.
-D

1

The sun still hadn't peaked over the horizon as I stepped out off the train.
"Why am I even awake?" I asked myself, fully knowing the answer.
I loved and hated the early morning. The quiet and the cold, before the world has awakened.
Lost in my thoughts the train pulled away. I gathered myself and started at a brisk pace, as ready as I could be to face this.
-G

1

I feel the lurching, lunging, staggering to a halt. Smoke billows up, obscuring the outer view.
I collect my things and join the bustling crowd, my fellow sojourners to a new land.
As I disembark with cautious steps, the unfamiliarity of it all envelops me:
the sights, smells and sounds, a symphony of welcome foreign to my weary ears.
I tighten my grip on my meager possessions, a talisman from my past, and together, we take the first few steps, hesitant though eager, into a new life.
-D