Lifeguard

LIFEGUARD
A city park.
A little girl drops her ice cream cone on the grass,
Falling to her knees while reaching out with sticky fingers to rescue her strawberry treat.
An old man plays chess with his grandson near the trees,
Nodding with admiration as the young boy finds his way through the shadow of the forest
The two shy loners who met near the snack bar while escaping the rain last week,
Today stroll hand in hand in the sunshine, their eyes darting from the ground to the sky.
The war veteran, just back from the Middle East in body, not mind,
Finds the sleep in the shade of an oak tree he couldn't locate in the darkness of a hotel bedroom.
A middle-aged woman jogs through the park,
Racing away from the years as hopelessly as her legs will allow.
A young man operating a recycling truck unloads his last plastic container,
And sits on the park's grass as he lights his own.
A survey taker sobs at a picnic table,  the newspaper's job section open in front of her,
Her first day asking questions having been her worst day on earth.
Two squirrels, one large and the other tiny,
Argue with one another in the trees over affairs of their day,
And as I survey this scene from my park bench beside the river bank,
The cell phone in my hand buzzes with incessant determination,
Intent on drowning me in the digital chaos strangling the planet,
I am about to choke.
So I close my eyes,
But the sound of a splash in the distance opens them again.
The phone is gone.
The squirrels stop fighting and serenade me from the trees.
Amen.
LAWRENCE LANNOO