Night Bus
Copyright 2023 by Michael Walker
I was on a night bus
In South Carolina
South of
No North
I thought
As I stared out the window…
And there was a
Black guy
Sitting across
The aisle from me
Surreptitiously
Drinking from a
Brown
Paper bag…
He told me he was bound
Bound for
New York City
"Gonna be a big star"
He said
In a
Gravely voice.
He had an old acoustic
Warped and impossibly
Out of tune
And a ragged notebook
Full of Sanscrit
Only he could read
Lyrics about the same
Devil Woman
South of
No North
"She'll see," he said
Upending his bag like a trumpet
"When I am a big star
In New York City
A big…star"
It was New Year's Eve
2002
And at midnight
The bus driver led us all
In a chorus of
Auld Ang Syne
"Remember all those who fell
Last year
In New York City"
He said
As the bus rumbled though the darkness.
The Big Star just smiled
And lifted his trumpet
Once again.
