FEAR

 

No one else was around

When our eyes first met

The wind had shut down

The parking lot was wet.

 

He was young, and tall

Disheveled and gaunt,

As he lounged at the wall

Of the darkened restaurant.

 

I quick- locked the door

Started the car,

And groped the floor

For an iron tire  bar .

 

He came fast to ask

To use my cell phone;

But I drove away fast

And left him alone.

 

The cold wind cursed me

And called up more rain.

His frantic eyes shamed me,

And I turned back again.

 

What else could I do

To undo a bad deed

Done to someone who

Was in some sort of need.

 

But he wasn’t there

That other man’s son.

So to prove that I care

I undid the undone,

 

The predawn night

Called up the dawn,

I called  up the sight

Of  the man who was gone,

 

Sat there alone,

With that coward who’d run

Pulled out our phone

And called 911.

Who Cares?

No one else was around

When our eyes first met

The wind had shut down

The parking lot was wet.

#

He was young, and tall

Disheveled and gaunt,

As he lounged at the wall

Of the darkened restaurant.

#

I locked all the doors

Started the car,

And  reached to  the  floor

For that iron bar .

#

He came quick and asked

To use my cell phone;

But I drove away  fast

And left him alone.

#

But the cold wind cursed me

And called up more rain.

The dark night shamed me,

And I turned back again.

#

What else could I do

To undo a coward’s deed

Done to someone who

Was in some sort of need.

#

But he wasn’t  there

That other man’s son,

So to show that I care

I undid the undone,

#

Sat ashamed and alone,

Took the clip from my gun,

Pulled out my  cell phone,

And punched up  911.

##################################