11/15/2021 I Look at a Face (Poem)

I Look at a Face

close by the water.

He carries a cane, intent on prayer

like a child in many ways.

The way he shakes his head.

At his back he hears the sweetest sound

and calls a cab to another life,

zig-zagging,

gaining height, wings raised high

under the dark metallic sheen

the coastal stars

some mysterious Holiness

as though through stained glass.

A young couple head for the opposite aisle.

There is a readiness about them

here and there

like a dusty breeze wasting a beautiful Sunday

on the path of grass.

I look at a face.

I see the damage is done.

Of course

and we stood in silence

and by purest chance a figure entered

and a door closed.