strange but harmless.

awoke to snow. waited at the stop for a time, noticed with some pleasure the white beauty of what would otherwise been a gray morning. not as cold as the previous week, despite the lovely seven days blue. on the bus, round the cow-clad corner, then stopped just long enough to witness a little birthday through the window, six employees gathered round one, cake and candlefire then blown, applause, and we roll on. later, a woman steps off the bus, hesitates in tiny panic, calling out for her lost glove. i turn behind, just in time to see fourteen riders lean forward in unison, all searching and sleepy eyed, each determined to be the fifteen second hero. over the bridge, and the snow is absent from the warm downtown city streets, sewers, sidewalks. down, down past the ziggurat of knowledge, the tower of protest, to the stop of ben. i pause on the corner, taking in the cold air, hooded and green overcoat, mask over disguise over mirror, happy in this moment, however short, however fleet of foot.