Standing Still, Moving Forward

by Holden Caulfield

Sitting on a stoop,
The man in the coarse khaki pants
Tracks an ant carrying grain to a hill through the grass.

A young lady is walking four dogs.
She is pulled past
The man in the coarse khaki pants
Too quickly for him to recognize her face.

He sees a ball bounce over a puddle
With no child to run after it.
The ball is small, round, and red.
As it reaches the slope
It ceases its bouncing
And begins to roll.

The man does not move.

The youth on the bicycle
Tosses the bad news to each neighbor.
The man looks left and looks right and smiles.

The man watches an elderly couple
Saunter down the sidewalk, arms crossed.

He watches and waits.
He waits for the sun to set as one waits to wake from a dream.
He waits to watch for someone new to pass him by.
And he waits for death.

But he does not wait for life;
He already has that firm in his grasp.