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 )