he could hardly move
and the young men
like snakes
hissed and laughed
as they passed
he would keep his head down
and still they hissed
walking down
sidewalks ripe of life
youth and ignorance
everyone toward
everything
he could hardly move
and when he wasn't
laughed at
he was ignored
see the arthritis had got him bad
and the war had got him worse
he was cold with the sickness
and the snow
and the laughter of young men
or snakes
delirious and shaking
the race whirled
around him
everyone toward
everything
I saw him on that
sidewalk
for a few weeks
when I first moved to the city
I would go to pick up
groceries and he'd be there
and we would chat
briefly
he was not one for words
but was grateful
to see a snake
that wouldn't hiss
I told him I admired him
of course he laughed
but to me he was
a stone in the river
fighting a current
that didn't know he was there
except to hiss and laugh
I lived in that city
for almost a year
and after the first
two or three weeks
he had moved
off to greener pastures
perhaps
and he was the
smartest of us all
getting out of that city
of everyone toward
everything
but maybe the river caught up with
him and swept him away
--those that fight
normally don't last
very long--
but I'd like to think of him
silent on a beach
somewhere
without the arthritis
without the war
the snakes
the cold
without the everyone
toward the everything
just an old man with
no need to move
anymore