DEAFENING SILENCE

PM1211248


DEAFENING SILENCE

Reddened, swollen eyes watch

as I take a seat across from

her on the bus.

Crying all night perhaps,

how am I supposed to tell

and furthermore why am I

supposed to care?

Fingers tighten around purse

and I wonder if she thinks

I am going to rob her as I

exit,

but I am too tired to rob 

anyone and the idea of getting

up to run down a dark laneway

with some woman's purse

is the farthest thing from

my thoughts.

I look down at the floor

to free her from the fear that I

am any kind of danger

but the swollen eyes have arrested

me and force me to look up

briefly so as to get some sort of

idea of what she is crying about.

It could easily be anything,

death in the family, lost dog,

loss of job or maybe even a broken 

fingernail,

What the fuck do I know

Just asking the obvious question

would get me labeled a sex

offender and I would risk

being chased down the street by the

bus driver.

But I want to know,

what the fuck had she been crying

about? Maybe she was being

beaten at home on a nightly basis

and tonight she would succumb to

those beatings and die in a bloody

mess on the floor.

What if I could somehow step in

at this moment and convince her

to save her own life?

I could be a hero, front-page news

in tomorrow's paper,

"Humanitarian Saves Woman on Bus Using

Words and Spirit"

I can just read it now!

But I know I won't be 

reading that tomorrow,

because I'm not going to do

or say anything,

for all I know she was crying

from a paper cut she received

from the hundred dollar bill she 

put on Shawshank to win in the fifth,

no reason to get involved.

MCC