Promptly 4 and 5

Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon

“La Dolce Vita” proclaims the sign
a voice in protest against the lowering sky
the gathering clouds of ill intent
and the steps leading downward
ever downward into gloom and deep despair
far indeed from any sweetness of life
the narrow alley squeezed between
buildings grown too tall for their ambitions
and painted in colours once bright
but now dark with age and wear
so rarely sunlit in these latter days
as though life itself drains slowly
fitfully down the grate in the foreground.

The sign creaks in the breeze.


Line count: 14
Free verse
For Promptly Poetry Challenge, Week 35
Prompt: As per illustration.