Stranger in Old Town

You thought I knew my way around
but those streets all look the same at night.
All of the shops and cafés closed at ten
and there was no one about after that
(except for a thin suspicious cat
and a pigeon I heard cooing from a balcony.)

I twisted my foot on a cobbled sidestreet.
The roses were crushed when I fell.
I left them there in the darkness.
The wind blew some of the petals away.

I knew the direction of the public beach.
I went there and sat in the sand.
I watched the waves tumble in the moonlight.
I fell asleep a few times.

I dreamed I was a clown in the circus
but no one laughed at my antics.

In the grey morning, before the markets opened,

I caught a city bus and went home.