BeltLine Bells: A City's New Rhythm

Lyrics

Just a ribbon of concrete.
A memory of iron rails.

It started on paper, didn't it?
A quiet rustle of pages in a Georgia Tech library.
Nineteen 1999.
Ryan Gravel’s thesis, a city’s old loop reimagined.
From freight cars and rust...
to flesh and breath and forward motion.

And I hear it now.
The city's new rhythm.
Ding-ding. A brass bell’s bright warning.
Whoosh. The skateboard wheels answer.
The laughter spills over from the park.
This is the pulse now. The BeltLine bells.

October, two thousand twelve.
The air was crisp, the pavement was new.
We stood on the North Avenue Bridge, watching the first wave come through.
Now the murals shout their color at the sun.
And I smell the food trucks near Ponce...
that sizzle, that sweet smoke...
mixing with the green scent from the trees.

And I hear it. The city's new rhythm.
Ding-ding. A sharp brass warning.
Whoosh. The longboard wheels answer.
The happy shouts spill over from the grass.
This is the pulse now. The BeltLine bells.

Down by Studioplex, the old train still rumbles below.
A ghost talking to a dream.
You connect us. Piedmont to Inman Park.
You are the suture on an old wound.
A living thing, paved with our footsteps, our conversations.

A single runner’s heavy breath.
A dog’s happy bark.
A final bell...
fading into the city hum.
The new rhythm...
settles for the night.
Ding.