Friday's Whims of the Time Traveler 23.0: December 2009

Golden (A Villanelle)
by Belinda Roddie

An old man smokes a cigarette and waits
for a northbound bus heading toward the bay.
His head's desired in forty-seven states.

The dissipating smoke around his face
is pleasant in the heated August day.
The old man smokes his cigarette and waits.

The stale ash is strangely nice to taste.
The mist around him swells and turns to gray.
His head's desired in forty-seven states.

He sees the sun upon the Golden Gate,
its bloated waters, cast in pallid shade.
The old man smokes his cigarette and waits.

He has forgotten all the crucial dates
in life, including all the friends he's made.
His head's desired in forty-seven states.

The bus comes 'round, but somehow, it's too late.
He disappears - the mystery remains.
The hunters smoke cigars and lie in wait.
They find his head in the last of fifty states.

The work you see here has not been edited nor altered since December of 2009.