In the shadow of skyscrapers, the air sighs thin,
a whisper of gray, where the sky should begin.
Steel giants loom, with breathless pride,
while the wind, once free, has nowhere to hide.
Choked by smoke, the city exhales,
a smothered breeze through concrete trails.
The lungs of the earth, heavy and weak,
cough in silence— too tired to speak.
Windows gleam, but the sky is pale,
a ghost of blue behind a toxic veil.
Birdsong lost in the smog’s embrace,
the wind forgets how to kiss our face.
Once, the air danced, crisp and clear,
now it staggers, thick with fear.
In every breath, a heavy toll,
a weight that darkens the heart and soul.
Yet still, we build, we climb, we take,
blind to the cracks that we awake.
In the shadow of skyscrapers, the air remains—
a silent mourner, bound in chains.
Photo credits: Pinterest
Kim is our lovely hostess at dVerse where she invites us to choose one of the basic four
elements and write a poem. I chose to go with air! Come join us! 💛
Posted for Poetics: The Four Elements @dVerse Poets Pub
42 Responses
You write so well of how what we do with air with our constant building… I wonder if air will take its revenge.
It is starting to look like the air is retaliating.
Thank you so much, Bjorn 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
I work in the city and I see the tall skyscrapers all the time. Love the timely theme and rhyming verses highlighting the toxic pollution of air from choked smoke, thin air and pale sky. This part speaks to me:
The lungs of the earth, heavy and weak,
cough in silence— too tired to speak.
Thank you so much, Grace 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
I love how you captured the air between skyscrapers, Sanaa, and so commented on the terrible effect of pollution. I love the line ‘a whisper of gray, where the sky should begin’, which reminds me how fortunate I am to live in a place where there are no skyscrapers – only windmills! I also love that you’ve written your poem in couplets, and the reminder of how ‘once, the air danced, crisp and clear’.
Awww gosh! Thank you so much, my dear Kim 😍 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
(and thank you for the glorious prompt) 🥂
I always thought the city suffocated the air – and our lives. This is my favorite stanza:
Choked by smoke, the city exhales,
a smothered breeze through concrete trails.
The lungs of the earth, heavy and weak,
cough in silence— too tired to speak.
Thank you so much, Nolcha 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
powerful, Sanaa ~
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Love the empathy you create for the stifled air, both in the studied meter of your poem and the rhyming, which gives an air(!) of added authority to it.
Thank you so much, my dearest Laura 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
It is always so lovely, a real treat, reading your verse, even in a matter so serious, that you resolutely point out. Thanks again.
Thank you so much, Ain 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
A sad state, but wonderfully said.
Definitely! Thanks for stopping by, Ken 💄❤️
Very well written, Sanaa. The cities keep getting bigger and bigger and the air quality is less and less! We keep building our towers of Bable and never seem to learn!
Thank you so much, Dwight 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
I liked the rhythm and great personification of air!
Thank you so much, Mrityunjay 🙂 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
That was amazing, Sanaa! I loved your poem.
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
❤️❤️❤️
A suffocating aether, this grey stubble char we once called air … To anyone who doesn’t understand how bad it gets in places like New Delhi, this poem is proof …
Yes absolutely! Thank you so much, Brendan 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Sanaa, this is so good! The rhythm and rhyme work very well in this poem and paint a painful, bleak picture if we don’t wake up soon and take better care of our Earth.
>>The lungs of the earth, heavy and weak,
cough in silence— too tired to speak.<<
What an image.
Thank you so much, Chris 🙂 so glad the poem spoke to you the way it did 💄❤️
So much to like about this poem, Sanaa, grim though the topic may be. This has such strong sensory imagery:
“Birdsong lost in the smog’s embrace,”
Thank you so much, Lisa 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Sanaa, this resonated deeply with me. Living in a concrete jungle with toxic air, I could feel each word of your verse. Bravo!
Thank you so much, Punam 🙂 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Wow, you set the tone perfectly for the powerful, haunting piece that is to follow
“In the shadow of skyscrapers, the air sighs thin” … sigh indeed. So well done.
Thank you so much, Stephen 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
“In the shadow of skyscrapers, the air remains—
a silent mourner, bound in chains. ”
Powerful poem!
Thank you so much, Sara 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Nice rhythm and rhyme. I really like this phrase “the air sighs thin” 👏
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Powerfully descriptive, Saana. Very well done.
Thank you so much, Robbie 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
“Birdsong lost in the smog’s embrace,
the wind forgets how to kiss our face.”
So very sad. So much that so many take for granted.
Thank you so much, Melissa 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
How beautifully you personify the air, and sprinkle it with so many images of bound lives intertwined in the cityscape you paint so vividly, Sanaa!
Thank you so much, Dora 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️