The Sidewalk

I observe without judgement, and my eyes tire of seeing. Too much to intake, this crash of information. Fire against them! These characters Ready to be absorbed: Inmates of my awareness Preparing my arrest. The sidewalk, the equalizer: we balance our approach, Two figures, sauntering, joining and diverging. We are the breath of an implacable day; A transient tail-stream in a jet-laden sky. Too heavy for an accident, too weak to carry purpose, So the mysteries within us will carry on unrealized. People crawl on the thin crust (thinking they are walking). Me, I take my time... Knowing I cannot Pass beyond appearances. But what aspects! Enough to gorge upon... Glowing golden edges; fancies of the age. Life-brushed paths, cool metal stopping-points. Everywhere smudges of softness bloom Within the mindless, militant marketplace. Blank city of staring faces... I tally your features, Marks on some indelible ledger, recorded and unmeasured. The boots! The frowns! Swinging hands, raising, holding, Bags and bikes, speakers and children. All I swallow sweetly and swim in me like swirling sewage, Rot reminiscent of an undertaking undertaken. Again! Again! No stopping now — No break or intermission for the unknown and unwritten. I play impartial witness to the figures on the stage: The dancing and the crying, the hopeless and uncertain.