Mixing with his blood entering the gutter
streamed unflavored coffee
from three large cups.
Had the man failed
three ER nurses
working an extra shift?
Bought one for himself,
now-diminished
Good Samaritan?
Labored to redress a mother’s metastasis,
placate a disowned son
or tend to a second mistress?
Selfish devil then
deserving
of fate’s harsh hand?
And what of complicit recipients,
three women -- tall, plump or spendthrift
shopping upscale & impatient for a pick-me-up,
& bus driver who had turned
to quip to the asphalt engineer,
“Tall latte for me”?
Fact: Man with blood in gutter had
only moments before steadied the tray
of a certain St. Barbara behind him
who knew little more
than the few culpable details
which gave her standing
to see how others had eagerly
poured hypotheses into three large cups
& ignored grief flowing over the top
21 March 2012