Urban Frame
When the old woman fell from the
city bus
And onto the curb of Belmont
Avenue
I was watching from the window
Of a corner coffee shop
I saw the two polished girls
Giggling with color
Who stood nearby
Pretending not to notice her
As the bus pulled away
I watched the hustling
businessman
Who, tripping, kicked her cane
Swore, and hurried on his way
And another young man
Who stooped to help her
Until he remembered his previous
engagement
He left her there
With her knees in the street
And her hands up on the curb
Quaking with the strain
Unable to lift her head
I sat in that coffee shop
Not twenty feet away from her
The glass in the window
Separated me
Protecting me from the scene
outside
And then I focused on the glass
Not five inches from my face
And I saw my own image in the
glass
A weak mirage of my reflection
Projected onto that scene.
And it did not reflect well on
me that day.
