Ezra chooses the life of an artist as opposed to the cold, shallow lifestyles that most city dwellers adopt ("moving round and around the dark center of town;" "while all the world makes money so stoically"). The kids of Atlantis are the lost souls he feels he must reach through his poetry and music. He's not sure how he will achieve this, but he's hopeful for the urban floodgates, the "cold water tap," to open up and rain down on him with some kind of clarity and guidance.
Ezra chooses the life of an artist as opposed to the cold, shallow lifestyles that most city dwellers adopt ("moving round and around the dark center of town;" "while all the world makes money so stoically"). The kids of Atlantis are the lost souls he feels he must reach through his poetry and music. He's not sure how he will achieve this, but he's hopeful for the urban floodgates, the "cold water tap," to open up and rain down on him with some kind of clarity and guidance.