Saturday, November 20, 2010

New York Subway

The beauty of people in the subway
that evening, Saturday, holding the door for whoever
was slower or
left behind
(even withall that Saturday-night
excitement)
& the high-school boys from Queens, boasting,
joking together
proudly in their expectations
& power, young frolicsome
bulls,& the three office-girls
each strangely beautiful, the Indian
with dark skin & the girl with her haircut
very short and fringed, like Joan
at the stake, the corners
of her mouth laughing
& the black girl delicateas a doe, dark-brown in pale-brown clothes
& the tall woman in a long caftan, the other day,
serene & serious & the Puerto Rican
holding the door for more than 3 minutes for
the feeble, crippled, hunched little man who
could not raise his head,
whose hand I held, to
help him into the subway-car—
so we were
joined in helping him & someone,seeing us, gives up his seat,
learning
from us what we had learned from each other.

As seen on

"New York Subway" by Hilda Morley, from To Hold My Hand: Selected Poems 1955-1983. © The Sheep Meadow Press, 1983.

Now go here and read watch this video on the Compassion Project - a wonderful idea, so simple and yet so powerful. Engaging and thought provoking, and it made me smile. This link brought to me by Slow Love Life by Dominque Browning.

Just right for Sunday morning.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Love to hear how your shows went; I think these discretionary spending events are a good indication of where our economy is headed! Do share . .