He walks his sister home from school,
even though he is too young to walk himself home.
Sister toddles along behind, as he tugs her forward
by the hand. She is lost in a coat
that might have been his a winter ago.
He concentrates on each step he takes.
Hand in hand, they cross Shelby Avenue.
The crossing guard looks both ways for them.
They pass the Bi-Rite, the bus stop—
where adults who are not their parents
glance their way—and the park,
where other children play.
He pauses to wipe at her nose
with his coat sleeve; no one wipes his,
and then he trudges on.
This is more of an observation than a poem, I suppose. There are supposed to be stanzas, but I couldn't figure out the spacing. I tried
ReplyDelete, but it didn't seem to work. Hmmm...
Oh, so the html worked in that post, but not in the poem. What's the deal?
ReplyDelete