05-01-2013, 01:58 PM
Encounter
She shuffles, ancient, down the street,
with eyes downcast at sluggard feet;
her wisp-haired head submissive bent,
her skirt unwashed, her jacket rent.
She pauses at the kerbside edge
to delegate the privilege
of guiding her through traffic's storm.
She peers at me and snares my arm.
We brave the highway's deluge roar
and stumble to the farther shore.
She frees herself with mute disdain,
then sets off down the street again.
Her insolent retreating back
now wends a deft, insouciant track,
as I am left alone to brood
on her roughshod ingratitude.
And sense that I have failed, perhaps,
to keep my ego under wraps.
_________________
She shuffles, ancient, down the street,
with eyes downcast at sluggard feet;
her wisp-haired head submissive bent,
her skirt unwashed, her jacket rent.
She pauses at the kerbside edge
to delegate the privilege
of guiding her through traffic's storm.
She peers at me and snares my arm.
We brave the highway's deluge roar
and stumble to the farther shore.
She frees herself with mute disdain,
then sets off down the street again.
Her insolent retreating back
now wends a deft, insouciant track,
as I am left alone to brood
on her roughshod ingratitude.
And sense that I have failed, perhaps,
to keep my ego under wraps.
_________________