Up and Downtown Streets

Towers of shiny glass
erupt from a city of commerce
as monuments to society,
like jeweled ads leapfrogging
across the skyline.

Ten or twelve floors below
Spring litter includes
Tim Horton cups
and tossed Subway wraps,
cigarette butts adding
to the march of season. No one
seems to notice--

certainly not day shoppers
in a hot bath, some
watching TV, or sleeping
after a meal.

Yet, late night soldiers continue
to straddle

downtown corners,
pockets empty except for lint
shoe leather worn thin,
hearing their voices ask leftover
passersby,
“Change for a coffee, sir?”

© Richard L. Provencher