Display

Despondent on the curb, hands in pockets
Collar high, head down, soaked in the rain, walking
No sense to take shelter already drenched
No cover, nothing over only water and sky

People in shops, in restaurants, warm
Comfortable talking, laughing, shopping warm
Simple matter really
Get in, step out of the rain - silly

I have no reason to go in
Nothing to buy, no need to dirty the floor
Only to track mud and grime
On my way I will be
To be a soaking spectacle I wish not to be

Rain falls harder as I go my way
Turn on the next corner, no desire to stay
Through a hole in the clouds a shaft of light strays
To intrude in my periphery, the glimmer of the display

A perfect jewel, a pendant, an amethyst
My gaze through the glass distorted by my breath, a mist
Hurriedly, sleeves wipe over the misted window
Eyes stare, time slows
Specteres of imagination, memories of the unreal
in the mind stirs
The jewel amongst events in a life of fiction --
the image blurs
Perchance, finally a reason to shelter from the rain
But surely a jest, the purchase may signify a loss not worth the gain
And another reason is more plain
Empty is this billfold on my chain

Pull away
From the display
On this cold rainy day
Trudge, walk away
‘Tis torture to stay




































Return another day
With currency to pay
Greeted by dismay
The bright jewel of that rainy day
Is no longer on display

Keats
03-16-09