Metropolis, Part I

While all the world does gently sleep

One city stays quite wakeful still;

Here evil roams and angels weep

And unknown beasts wait for their kill.

Your actions are not secret here

For eyes that do not blink or tire

From every spire and street corner peer

And judge who should be tried by fire.

Decay and despair have found their place

Here where no birdsong can be heard

Where agony contorts every face

And the line 'tween right and wrong is blurred.

So welcome, but you'll not enjoy your stay

(Nor does the city want more strangers);

A word: it won't help much to pray,

Beware the city's many dangers,

For who knows what weird fate may come

In this godforsaken industrial slum?