The Sun, Like God

Up before the alarm,  I could feel I had slept long enough

And the inkling of natural light told me it was late enough
So out of bed, into the shower, down the stairs into the sunlight:
 

Stricken, I turn to see the sun so red, childbirth straining,
Then walked the several steps more to the subway,

Turning two or three times more to witness the quiet of the dawn
Amid the morning traffic clamor.
 

On the train, she was huge, sleeping,

With one sleeping child to her left, two more to her right.
At Fulton, they got up, and she called to yet another,
"We're getting off!"
A teenage girl, with another child, a boy,

Followed not so closely behind,
And when on the platform the boy went the wrong way,
She yelled, "Where you going? Mom went this way,"
And up the stairs they went as the doors closed, crying.
 

Next stop, Wall Street. I get out,
Reject a complimentary Journal,
Walk toward the water, right at Delmonico's,
Left onto the little alley, right onto Stone,
And another left into the sun, like God: 

Reflected on the Vietnam memorial,
Reflected in the shining sky, singing,
Reflected in the heart that bears witness.
The world is charged, and charges all who ask.
 

November 25, 2015