man sleeping

on a concrete bench
between a great way
named for a south sea

that grows smaller
every day as
engineers in charge

make it solid ground
and shops intent on seeing
that the world is small

must have grown
tired of looking
for work in this place

made for making
money. It does,
and he dreams.

But his sleeping
here can only be
denied if you turn
and look the other way.

      Eyes open, there is a man,
spent, sleeping on a cold bench
in the shadow of wealth, in
the shadow of a world
that does not know
yet that it is

dying of consumption.

poem © Steven Schroeder
image © Mary Ann O'Donnell

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