At night walking I'm reminded Every city window has a whole life behind it— A full collection of hang ups and hopes And banged up feelings and inside jokes Intermittent movement and emanating light From a lamp or TV, the only proof of life Through windows wide open or shades pulled tight— A life that surely looms large from the inside Lives stacked up in tall towers Squeezed in walk ups with 24 hours To make ends meet and maybe even make meaning Often at the expense of sleeping or dreaming I feel small from the sidewalk My life shrinks, zooming out from my block To my neighborhood, city, state, country, continent, and planet I'm just a blip tryna manage My little tiny life Seems to me to be of a certain size But if you walk by my window at night It's just movement and light My little tiny life Seems to me to be of a certain size But if you walk by my window at night It's just movement and light The walls know all the windows hear, the gargoyles sneer The gutters strain where the air vents, choking, gasp Steam rising from the window's crack, the building, chain-smoking, laughs At the elevator's tricks, the radiator's click The cobwebs drift till the corners are swept finally Where mourners slept and widowed eyes wept silently I wonder inside, how many inventions had their first breath? How many babies took their first steps? How many left? The old pipes sobbing, sentiments throbbing behind oaken doors Bursting through the drywall, creaking, slinking on broken floors Till pouring, staining inside out onto the brick facade Like me, its scars showing Look up at the stars knowing There must be some great engine roaring inside this basement Or is it nothingness and we forget sometimes emptiness Can be a strong foundation? The light and shadows pacing Close my eyes use my imagination My little tiny life Seems to me to be of a certain size But if you walk by my window at night It's just movement and light My little tiny life Seems to me to be of a certain size But if you walk by my window at night It's just movement and light