A haunting zither’s lament permeates
the dank misty alleyway,
from a high up apartment window
a jingle-jangle music-box
is serenading a peek-a-boo moon;
A streetcar is stuttering
grinding to a halt,
silhouetted by lamplight
a solitary figure disembarks,
he quickly merges into a doorway
a shadow within shadows;
he lights up a Lucky Strike and waits,
his friend Holly Martins is late,
something..someone..has kept him
from this rendezvous;
After a while
emerging from the doorway
rapid click-clacks carry him
across the cobblestones toward
Vienna’s labyrinthine sewers,
where Harry Lime
loses himself
and is lost:
Cultural Footnote:-
( ” The Third Man ” 1949..a film Directed by Carol Reed, screenplay by Graham Greene )