In Praise of New York

by : Tom Disch

As we rise above it row after now of lights reveal the incredible size of our loss. An ideal commonwealth would be not otherwise, for we can no more legislate against the causes of unhappiness, such as death or impotence or times when no one notice, than we can abolish the second law of thermodynamics, which states that all energy,  without exception, is wasted. Still, under certain conditions it is possible to move to a slightly nicer neighborhood. Or if not, then at least there is usually someone to talk to, or a library that stays open till nine. And any night you can see Times Square Tremulous with its busloads pf tourists who are seeing all of this for the first and last time before they are flown back to the Republic of Azerbaijan on the shore of the Caspian, where for weeks they will dream of our faces drenched with an unbelievable light.