Almost Regal

I see woman cross Hyperion

As I drive toward Trader Joe's.

A plaid of watered-down blue

Drapes hunched shoulders;

She steps like an offspring of siege.

I grab pre-packed necessities, mask,

From car's backseat

And approach personage via sidewalk.

Matted hair somehow flounces

Atop her head--almost regal--

A belly overhangs begrimed pants.

She beams me a beautiful smile

As we near one another.

"This might be helpful to you,"

I say and hand over

A packet of new socks,

Foil pouch of food, two dollars,

And Mary's medal on a chain.

By the time I'm loading groceries

Into my trunk, she's across

The street. I pass her on way home

As she totters dashed stripe of road,

O maiden what betideth thee? 

Laura Stickney 2021

Notes:

siege--An attack in which an army

surrounds a castle or city in order to

prevent the people inside from receiving

food and water.

O maiden what betideth thee?--quote 

based on Sappho, Ode to Aphrodite

photo by Laura Stickney