Saturday, December 22, 2018

Walt Whitman’s Ghost on the Q34 Bus



He stalks our dark canyons
by firelight
casting star-shadows
on the rain-slicked streets

Rejoicing
at the church of life
at our chaotic march
led by endless, sacred dreams

He lets it all
flow around him,
such joy among the throngs
that fed him long ago

Packed to the gills,
steaming the windows
with breath
from every corner of Earth
so many mysteries, lives
intersecting in this beast

Walt Whitman,
your Holy Ghost
rolls on
even here,
an overcrowded bus
on the ass end of Queens

You dance on the fingers
of old maids, immigrant children
and harried drivers.
You keep us hopeful
when humanity fails us, again.
You are here,
in every strange swirl of humanity,
in every passing glance at forbidden fruit.
Your ghost sustains us, reminds us
that there is joy to be unearthed
like gemstone treasure,
even here.



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