The sky turned sepia today.

The streets, trees, and cars,

Everything awash with yellow.

 

The woman with fire for hair

Walking her proud dog 

Was reduced to a silent figure,

Hunched and ignorant to the beauty surrounding her.

 

The cars driving by swept my hair up,

Snaking it around my head.

Their speed was tangible, 

But my eyes followed them slowly, 

Reducing them to dust motes in the field of my vision

Slowly waltzing down the street. 

 

The weepy branches of a tree rustled, 

Stirred by a wind

That came down to earth to break up the stillness of the afternoon.

It pinched my cheeks and tickled my fingertips, 

Drawing them into my palm.

 

The sky turned sepia today 

And it awoke something I had long buried. 

The soft light coaxed my eyes open

And made me see.