Life’s illusion.

Life’s illusion.

A woman stood by a tree

On the other side of the road

I don’t know why

It struck me as odd

Perhaps she was waiting

For the mood to take her

Far from here,

Or a native returning.

The Plane trees were blowing

Like drunks at a party

Pretending to be sober

Wobbling from the trunk up

Waving leafless branches

As if they were old folks

With stick-thin bones

Draped in dry skin

Hungover with fruit bats

Like bloodsuckers.

Cars held up by the lights

Stopped alongside

Perhaps some drivers

May have believed

She was waiting for them

All of their dreams come true

In the time it took for the lights to change

And they moved on.

Unnamed, in a street car

Full of latent desire.

A manchild in a school uniform

Flew by on a scooter,

She barely looked up from her phone

Sidestepping

Deftly,

Bumping into an older woman

With a shopping trolley.

Nobody shared a word

Disappointment

Can come in all shapes and sizes.

There was nothing to see

She was still waiting

There was an opportunity

For the development

Of a new storyline

Anything could happen

It is in the nature of imagination

To create meaning

When there is none.

To create order

Out of a random series of events.

Unfinished business

Is unsettling

The trees dip and sway

As they attempt

To sweep her away,

But this is not Kansas.

I look down for the moment

It takes for her to be gone

Perhaps she was never there

My mind was just filling in the blanks

For something to do.

As the day slowly dies

Without a tree falling

Not that I would have heard it

From behind the glass.