RICHARD CREAMER
BOND STREET
They sat close together in the morning sun,
Dreaming perhaps -- sleeping certainly,
Touching comfortably, head on shoulder,
Hand on arm, eyes closed lightly,
Oblivious to early morning sun.
Close together in the morning sun,
On sofa-like resting place
In the early morning cool sun;
Sleeping certainly, dreaming perhaps,
Oblivious to sound or smell,
Oblivious even to early morning and cool sun,
Unaware of the gentle smiles of passersby.
Gentle smiles, but sharply glinting, knowing eyes,
Knowing, aware eyes that see
There in the cool morning sun,
On derelict car seat,
By twisted wire fence,
On glass-studded sidewalk,
Bond Street, New York,
Two sleepers (certainly),
Dreamers (perhaps)
As sweetly together as lovers in moonlight
In the cool morning sun.
Alive, yet sculpted, caught in a sharing moment
Become etched in alcohol and solitude
There in the cool morning sun
As infants who easily doze after glorious and free play,
Almost as defense from joy
The two sleepers (certainly)
And dreamers (perhaps)
In an instant, in a now between past and future
Stalled, stopped; and that instant remained,
While all else in time continued
And bore witness to the sculpted now.
Witnesses and witnessed there in the cool morning sun,
Bond Street, New York City,
gentle, frozen, sculpted time.
And none to say whether that sculpted now
Was not a moment of rare beauty.