Landscape
The young man who sits between
The grandmother and the other grandmother
Stares into the emerging emptiness that
Fills with evolving cityscape. The city
Empties, then fills with the grandmothers’ banter.
The young man, hair collected in
A puny pony tail, the feathers of a baby beard
Outlining his thin jaw, sits
Invisible, while the grandmothers chat,
Their words, bright birds flutter between them,
Their song light above the drone of engine and parting air.
The blue-glasses grandmother stands.
The bus lumbers to a stop,
A whale on the paved and peopled Ocean of the city. The young man, Waits in the aisle, while the song continues,
He breathes, patient, unhurried air.
The glasses grandmother says, "adeu,"
To the red overcoat grandmother then
Sees the young man for the first time.
He nods, his smile says
You are welcome here, too. As welcome as
The city that arrives and departs
Before our eyes. The next stop, he debarks
Followed by the African Giant who
Sat by the window, next to the red overcoat
Grandmother. The giant takes his dark beauty with him,
Walks beside the young man and
Joins the evolving masterpiece,
- Rebecca del Rio
Barcelona, Nov. 2011