The city is sprawled like a giant web
woven of finest gold
by some uncanny instinct for design
on a ghostly canvas agleam and adrift in the night;
It is a radiant galaxy unrolled on a silent sea
propelled by a force unfathomed to a place unimagined –
a mirror image upside down in space.

I gaze transfixed at the fine-wrought scene
descend into the heart of a mystery
passengers disembark
disappear into shimmering canvas,
familiar constellations, roadways
like tendrils of light
where a city was once suspended
agleam and asway in the night.

                              - Ruth Hoppin