Off

Deviated

from the routine of sleep, transport child(ren), off to work

today and went to Cambridge

for an appointment

and saw people running for

trains.

Slim and sleek, in black and grey

and all the boys looked like all the other boys

and the girls, well,  likewise,

but they looked different from

their counterparts here.

Early,

 I browsed a market, bought some treats for the kids,

had a sandwich

and drank a salted yogurt drink from another country.

Later,

I stifled the impulse to laugh

when the therapist talked about ways of being

and realized how uncivilized I've become and,

well, fatalistic too, if you really must know.

After,

 I did not run for the train,

I walked

and felt the outside sun and the rush of wind

through the subway on my skin

and

listened to the Middle Eastern girl sing a pop song

to herself quietly

in a coffee shop while working her shift,

not caring that anyone was listening,

and I looked out the window upon a view

I'd never quite seen before.

A slight and welcome shift.