Shuttle Bus

@ Grand Central

Where it's impossible
to avoid
time.
The cloth covers
a mini newsstand,
time for that
Indian to return to
Palace-High
(in the Bronx)

Why am I laughing?
I'm the one killing
time
side by side
hand in hand
with a forlorn
instead
of bed
(the officer: NO SLEEPING!)
(the bum, jumpy: yes, SIR!)
(me, I just looked up: I'm clearly NOT a bum, pig!).

I could have been,
in the last minutes
of a New York
to be missed
in bed.

But time's implacable.
The clock keeps
chopping.

I also had better to do:
I listened to music,
with no lights on.

She had better to do:
she was in bed.