Bus Going Somewhere (True Story)

Once aboard I tuck my guide dog under the seat, her paws safe

For I take care of her, our pact, she watches cars I watch her toes, 

When a woman, a stranger, a person entirely unaccustomed to the blind

Leans close, rustling something in her hands I know not what 

And says “I’d have to kill myself if I was you.” I think she’s got flowers. 

She kneads the cellophane, breathes hard. “Oh I already did that,,”

I say. “I used to be you in the far flung spindrift galaxy 

Called the Black Eye. I rode a bus with hot house flowers 

And hey diddle diddle one day I couldn’t take it anymore

So now I’m a blind man beside you on a boppity bumpity bus.”

Yes in case you’re wondering, I smile. 

She gets off at the next stop.