Taking her time crossing the intersection
heading north up the street
as we waited to turn the corner; at first inspection
she was pale grey elderly:
hair, eyes, face, coat, hands and expression
all grey all day.
In my rear view mirror traffic piled up.
All day she was taking to cross
Hey, lady, speed it up! I thought
but she stared ahead
looking nowhere and everywhere:
an old hag with a doggie bag
wandering across my path.
I almost leaned on my horn
when she just about paused
right in front of us.
Then she was gone, we were gone;
she had crossed, we had turned:
it was over.
We arrived at the store
to do our shopping:
bread, mild, meat, fruit, coffee, juice;
we headed home.
At our driveway, there she was,
heading south with her greyness
and her doggie bag.
I waited this time:
she was still looking nowhere
and everywhere
taking all day the cross
our driveway.
The traffic stopped
existing
she existed
we existed
She cleared the driveway
I drove in
looked in the rear view mirror
looked at nothing
at everything.
