Hello, City

How do you do it? How do you live in a place where everything is cocooned in concrete and asphault? How do you live in a place where people outnumber everything but rats and pidgeons?
What is the allure of the noise, the smell, the grime, the crowds?
What do you do when your skin craves water that hasn't been crammed into a pipe? Who stands guard over your sleeping if not the trees?
Don't talk to me about culture. Shows and exhibitions. Standing in line and staring up at a stage. The enlightened brain--unencumbered by eye contact with strangers--riding the pace of traffic. Straight ahead and run run run. Sucking exhaust between tourist traps.
Packed in noise and litter and frantic until people become rats and pidgeons.
Tell me what you get out of it.
Tell me how it can be worth it.