Passing
By (A Villanelle)
"Help
me," she cried and looked me in the eyes,
A wrinkled, ebony-skinned mother,
Huddled in the doorway under rainy skies.
Cold night
and hollow voice her sole allies,
All alone, she spoke not to another,
"Help me," she cried and looked me in the eyes.
Startled
out of dreams as I passed by,
Damp discarded cardboard her lone cover,
Huddled in the doorway under rainy skies.
Rushing toward
my meeting warm and dry,
Trembling outstretched fingers made me falter,
"Help me," she cried and looked me in the eyes.
No time for
guilt to force me to deny
My ambitions and my well-fed pleasures,
Halting in the doorway under rainy skies.
Two people face to face, no alibis,
Fortunes linked, a moment of encounter,
"Help me," she cried and looked me in the eyes,
Huddled in the doorway under rainy skies.
© 2003 Richard Sidy
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