Eyes contact

i'm not even sure this is how it happened

little legs flying
tied to his torso
tied to the silk
tied to the roof

a very small roof
on the stop
for the bus—
but which one

I’ve been here
sitting since forever
looking at a spider
and its little legs

but

faces and voices
dreams and noises
waiting near me
waiting with me

faces and voices
they come and go
banter with me
and— leave me

i look up and see
the bus in front of me
and those green eyes
in the window

the green eyes
of a man only sitting
at the bus stop
doing nothing else

and he is so scared

next bus passes through
and this green-eyed man
looks all high and mighty
in his stupid suit

another bus
he now looks old
another bus
and he is trying his best

now he’s very young
(never made it past his twenties)
now he’s going on a date
now he’s going to a wake

he has a daughter
he has a cat
he has a near empty bottle
in his hand

he’s with his mom
he’s all alone
he looks very fat
he should wear a hat he’s surrounded by friends he’s being mugged he’s smiling to his phone he is wailing he can’t tell right from wrong he doesn’t even try he knows his path he is adrift he believes he’ll be saved

he knows there’s no future ahead
he is singing for coins and bread
he reads out loud from a book
he never went to school

he has become a blur

eventually there are
far fewer buses
until the last one
passes by

but I'm still waiting for mine
so perhaps that last one
isn’t the last one
right?

no more faces
no more voices
no more dreams
no more noises

just his eight little legs
finally reaching the roof
of the bus stop
and I wonder

how many sets of eyes
did he see?

my bus never came
if it ever was mine
to begin with
so I guess—

i’ll start walking