Lifelong

Walk a while down
the dusted street
where boys and men
unload furniture
from trucks without
the slightest shade.
The alleys where
grandmothers pour out
cold coffee from their windows
without warning.
Pool halls where the lifelong
pace for nights without a dream
and put it all down
on some simple shots
and miss.

The community pools
where teenagers wear red
and pull blue children
from blue water
and breathe life back to them.

Where sunburnt mothers
reel nets from the surf
and cook fish impaled
on twigs propped up
against each other.
Take the dirt path
by the river down
where the bank
displays its greenest views,
and see her standing
arms outstretched
as dragonflies all land on her
and stay there
just to carry her away.