Elegy in a Realm of Ashes by Richard Schnap

By the shores of the river

I can still see the steel mills

Like ghosts in the moonlight

Among the shopping malls

And where there once stood

Furnaces forging girders

A man haunts the restaurants

Where hungry families dine

And he looks at me sadly

While wavering and weaving

By the luxury condos

Built to house the rich

And he seems to be trying

To tell me some story

But a wind out of nowhere

Comes and blows it away





Richard Schnap is a poet, songwriter and collagist living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His poems have most recently appeared locally, nationally and overseas in a variety of print and online publications.