the mood of half-empty streets
in the slow morning build-up
reflected by taxi-drivers’ looks
the quiet hectic
and i was wasting time
put on my holiday perspective sunglasses
and grasped the situation immediately
it was a well-known
foreign day
the kind that’s forgotten
behind office doors
i caught yet another glimpse
of that reflected passion
and demanded mourning from my soul
through the misty veil of insight
i could suddenly see more than there was to see
i saw his fingerless grasp
and her passionless smile
there were hidden giggles
echoing in the wretched underground
the absent footprints penetrated a timeless rush
and children joked about their anger
i wasn’t looking for the truth
though my search was truthful
the senseless had a meaning
and i stuffed it into my lunch-bag
with the potato salad
in the café men were drinking beer
at nine o’clock in the morning
drinking beer and schnapps
a work-break for the unemployed
so glad to have nothing to do
others don’t even have that