No one left and no one came on the bare platform
The energetic buzz is at a ghostly halt
Gone is the mad rush, missing is the human storm
Beating heart of the city, with no rhythm to flaunt
Pat R
4/17/20
Ended up practicing my couplets instead of being true to the prompt*.
Linking to OLN over at dVerse Poets Pub
*Loosely based on the prompt over at dVerse Poets Pub where Sarah is hosting. She asked for prosery..a flash fiction piece with no more than 144 words. the following line to be included in the prose:-
“No one left and no one came on the bare platform”.
The lines are lifted from Adelstrop by Edward Thomas.
To read more about the poet and the prompt or to participate (it might be too late for that) here.
thoughts and entanglements 
Nice phrase “no rhythm to flaunt”. I imagine especially in Times Square the quarantine is making that place feel like a ghost town.
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It truly is. I’m amazed everytime they show it on the news because I’ve been they when it was crazy busy. And that was all the time. Thanks for reading Frank.
Pat
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It’s so eerie. I look out on Broadway (ok, way uptown) but all I see now are the bus drivers changing shifts. (K)
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I know! It’s really a ghost town. I’ve taken to saying out loud “hello s” to people I don’t know way on the other side of the street on my short walks!! The connection to each other is feeling that we were willing to admit. Learning lessons!!
Pat
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with no rhythm to flaunt…..an excellent depiction of what has happened to our large cities with everything shut down. The heartbeat of the city is gone….or it has moved frenetically into the hospitals and healthcare workers are desperately trying to keep it alive.
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You’re right about the hospitals and the healthcare workers doing battle. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Pat
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I liked that prompt but never followed through. Happy to see this.
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Thank you Yvonne. It was an interesting prompt. Couldn’t get through it on time. Wrote a long thing but whittled it all the way down to this. I liked this better.😊.
Pat
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You wouldn’t think you’d miss all the hustle and bustle, frenetic day after rushing day…but it’s like the old Twilight Zone, Out Limits episodes’ images–that I, at least, thought so farfetched, and disdained.
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We’re living that old Twilight Zone episode as a reality now. So strange.
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There is only silence where there once was rhythm…
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Ghost towns, one and all. Thanks for stopping.
Pat
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I cannot imagine Times Square without the bustle of people.
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I know. It’s weird!!!
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