Dear Atlanta,
Star-speckled towers:
Proud and beautiful,
You outshine the night sky.
The darkness cannot dim your brilliance;
It can only find its way inside.
Dear Atlanta,
Foam-swirling sea of humanity,
Sweep the million lives along
To drown in your golden splendour.
You stretch out stained glass arms
To embrace all earth's races,
And draw them into your endless maze.
Dear Atlanta,
Sing me to sleep tonight
With your tales of grief and hate and love,
The music of centuries.
Countless voices whispering in the caverns of your mind,
A new generation chanting its battle cry:
Listen.
Dear Atlanta,
Mystery, Babylon the Great,
Scarlet enigma bathed in your own blood,
And the blood of your children,
While the golden stars burn
On your silver-gray castles.
Yours is power, beauty, death,
Resurrection.
Dear Atlanta,
Can I do anything but love you?
You hold me in your glowing hands,
Hands that destroy and redeem,
Bind and release.
You will never release me,
And I don't want to go.
Holding me to your bleeding iron heart,
You hold my very soul.
