metaphor of a lover

• In the third stanza, there is a conceit (extended metaphor) of her past city as a lover.

  Rumens paints archetypal images of romance through phrases such as:

  • "it lies down in front of me"
  • "I comb its hair"
  • "my city takes me dancing"

  It is so powerful, it has almost became personified in her mind.
• The transitions in language shift her city from being passive, to being active.

  • It now "takes... [her] dancing" suggesting that she transitions into a position of comparative weakness within her new city she uses her old city as a source of support.