Observations During a Quiet Sunrise,
Alamo Square, San Francisco, February 2018
I see a man standing
silently
amongst the trees
all alone for just a moment.
His neighbors are still sleeping –
all except the birds –
chattering excitedly about
this stranger in their midst
I wonder what the man thinks about
from his high perch
as he watches the city
breathe into life
below him
Perhaps he contemplates
the ancient hills that backdrop
the city skyline.
Those hills once beckoned to man,
“Come and conquer me if you can!
We were here long before you
and we shall still be here
long after you depart.”
But the hills mock no longer.
Man has leveled,
scraped,
and straightened them,
planted his boxes of ticky-tacky,
strung congested highways
and piled towering landfills
wherever he pleases.
Standing there so still,
does he feel the weight of
the conquest, the pavement?
does he see the price of progress?
I turn away,
leaving a silent prayer
that this man
has conquered
his need to conquer
here
alone
on this quiet morning.