Tourist In The City

Nighttime engulfs historic New Orleans
Between the various sex shops and strip joints,
from one crowded street corner to another,
the sweet sounds of old style jazz drift lazily

punctuated often by the sharp staccato steps
of iron-shoed horse hooves on cobble stones.
Hungry children with taps on worn-out sneakers
dance for spare change on littered sidewalks

as the pungent scent of cajun-cooked crawdads
drifts enticingly through ancient wooden doors,
and ruined drunks emerge from dark alleyways
to grope the denim clad legs of passing tourists.

And as the rest of the world lays its head down
for another undisturbed and unsuspecting sleep,
the City of Sin prepares its streets for another
long night of living in flashes of neon and noise.