Monday, January 30, 2017

day ELEVEN

the wave
school bus
stuck at a red light
the little girl waves to me from her seat
and, oh my, how her mother has her
overdressed on this unseasonable day
snowcap and a big pink jacket
but she’s a cute kid
still panting from my morning run
i stop my pacing and give her a wave back
she sits there and smiles at me
this ever-loving hallmark scene
red lights take forever
to change in this neighborhood
i don’t know what to do
she keeps waving, so i keep waving
heartwarming, i guess
but i can’t stop thinking about how fucked that kid is
how much we’ve screwed up the world for her
endless wars and partisan politics
sixty-six degrees in the dead of winter
polar ice caps melting
ice shelves the size of delaware falling into the ocean
droughts and epidemics galore
people dying of hunger because of decisions made
by thoughtless bastards in cheap suits
living half the world away
on top of that us adults have given her
a certifiable, infantile lunatic as president
kid, there really ain’t too much to be happy about this morning
we were all supposed to have been better than this
yet it turns out we’re as bad as bad can be
we’re lucky to have our health these days
come to think of it i don’t really feel all that good
still you keep smiling and waving
and i’ll keep smiling and waving
we’ll pretend nothing is wrong in this demented lullaby
at least until that light has changed
and you go off to wherever it is you’ll go
and i’ll go back to pacing around in a circle
trying to calm my breath and heart
sniffing all of that
wondrous car exhaust
as the birds sing out loud
their beautiful funeral dirge




                                                                       

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