Radiance

As the rickety bus
screeched to a thudding halt
I idly looked outside,
sure enough,
a young lady on the curb
put out a hand,
her glistening eyes full
of pure mischief,
contrasting terribly with
feigned driving-need for help

our eyes met, and I laughed
abruptly she laughed too...
with gesture implying
futility in its infinite endlessness
she pulled back

and my heart lurched
soon as I realised
her right leg was missing
from mid-thigh downwards
-but the bus lurched onwards.

Those joyfilled lustrous eyes
that irrepressible joie de vivre
that impatience to get back
to horseplay with buddies

contrasts
ever so sharply
with a platoon of worried
sick everyday faces

swooshing down on me
like a phalanx of restless
ghosts with eternal hungers

leaving me to
wonder, and untangle
the severe strands of confusion.

(c) Max Babi