All of us/
on the afternoon #45 bus/
shook our heads/
in disgust/
or rolled our eyes/
or grimaced/
as we tried/
to avoid face-to-face/
with the disheveled/
probably homeless/
man who rocked out/
to tunes/
on his iPhone,/
loud,/
obnoxious/
swearing.
All of us,/
that is,/
but the sun-tanned/
young woman/
who was just/
coming home from work/
at Smith’s/
or some other grocery store/
neatly uniformed, /
smiling,/
and, /
(as she revealed later,)
heading to her halfway house,/
to her recovery place./
She simply smiled/
at the man,/
and pointed at her ears./
(At last!/
Someone is going to/
say something!)
But, /
when he said “WHAT!?!”,/
she reached into her backpack,/
and handed him,/
gifted him,/
a pair of earphones.
Cyrano Writer: Musings of a Revolutionary Romantic Poet 