Learn the knack in noisy streets, of shifting on a new hour’s turn:
Your bottom-of-the-cavern-ness into a view from the green valley,
Or a ride along the midpoint of Taroko’s white-marble gorge.
Because bodies deprived of sky fret, nurse tempers.
From your bottom-of-the-cavern-ness, for a green valley view,
Scout plant-shops, hat-shops, cake-shops and their windows,
Because deprived and fretful bodies abandon to longing.
But don’t buy their niceties. It’s enough, in October, to look.
Idle by the shops’ cakes and hats and plants; flirt with their windows,
But coyly. The pastel sweetness, thin stitches and hot-house blooms
Don’t need their niceness bought. In October, to be looked at is enough.
Note a soft-suede lift or thick-green succulence, for train-ride contemplation.
Keep coy. Carry in mind the blooms, pastels, and stitches home for warmth,
Say, “I know you sharper than your buyers. I trailed your shops all day.”
Soft-suede spreads; succulents grow thicker, greener. The train ride, remembered,
Rattles you to sleep. You made it through the day, and well: good night.
Featured artwork credit: artwork by Lori Green