New Life

By Emma Stopper

The first time my world changed

The crowd jostling me

My head was swarming

with new opportunities

The quick city

Made my thoughts

sprint

Conversations fly past

Rent, roommates, romance

Dozens of bodies

hurrying past

Their whole lives

happening in front of me

loud and quiet

old and young

I know everyone’s story

and no one knows

mine

Bright billboards surround me

and when I look away

Their messages remain

A bright reminder

of a city that’s

hard to forget

I’m standing here on a whim

A split second decision

A new branch on a tree

Nerves overcome the excitement of the city

I could go home

Leave the rush

But fate leads my feet

My first step

Into a new life

was onto a crowded sidewalk

And the sidewalk listened

to my hopes

It captured each one

And remembered it

With the millions of others

Who stood there, before