For old buildings
sitting on sidewalks
lived in by
many morphing infestings
of all shapes,
with stale knishes
babbling sharply while clunking
like overstuffed luggage
everyday
up and down, up and down,
A doldrums routine
– yet
those times past were
not so different from now,
space, roof and pipes,
Still
the breaths of so many
in such a small space
have weighed on their frames.