According to Buddha

There can be no images of light without contrasting shadows. Unless evil had been created, man would not know the opposite, good. Night brings out the bright contrast of day; sorrow teaches us the desirability of joy. 

and all the streets, they reek of tropical charms
the embassies lie in hideous shards
where tourists snore and decay
when they dance in a reptile blaze
you wear a mask, an equatorial haze
into the past, a colonial maze

***

downtown etown ~ Edmonton, Alberta ~ March 2017