Love in the Streets

She walked with bare feet

On hard pavement.

Smells of street food swirled around her, 

Sizzling oil and spices,

Children running,

Cows and chickens,

Vendors calling out

To draw their buyers in.

Rickshaws buzzed around the innocent pedestrians, 

Zigzagging on the brink of death,

With jeers from the crowd

Like an Olympic event.

Horns, hands out of the window, 

And everything forever getting louder,

Vibrant-er,

More pungent-er

Everywhere was er, er, er.

And then there was her.

A man was lying on a nest of newspapers and wrinkled nylon bags -

One hand resting, one hand reaching out

For alms.

She came and sat beside him.

“Who are you?” He questioned her.

“I am love,” she said softly.

He looked her up and down, and croaked.

“That’s funny. Are you here to make me laugh?”

“No. I am love.”

“Love?” He asked her. “Love Love?” He wheezed at her and cleared his throat.

“If you were the love, you would be more beautiful than that.”

She eyed him, and her brows sank sadly.

“You would have fairer skin,” he continued.

“You would have brighter eyes, you would have fuller lips, you would have dazzled me. 

Do you have money? I am a busy man.”

She stood, and walked on without being heard.

Another man was telling stories on the corner,

Sitting on a wooden box.

She came and sat at his feet, and listened

To every “Once Upon a Time” and “Happily Ever After”.

After many clouds, and rainbows, stars and flowers and faraway lands, he finally asked her:

“Who are you?”

“I am love,” she grinned.

“Ah…

Love is like a red red rose, that’s newly sprung in June…

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.”

He kept talking, and she stood 

And walked away, without being heard.

His voice trailed off behind her.

Another man was in the park.

His boots were wet

From dew on unkept grass.

He stood there, looking at the lilies.

She stopped to look at him.

He looked at her.

“I am love,” she said.

“What are you like?” He asked her.

“Oh!” She said with an eager smile, and sat.

“I’ll show you.”

Photo by Michal Robak, Pexels.com