Simply Lit

(Red neon reflection by Robert Bell - found here)

Often toward evening,

after another day, after

another year of days,

in the half dark on the way home

I stop at the food store

and waiting in line I begin

to wonder about people. I wonder

if they also wonder about how

strange it is that we

are here on the earth.

And how in order to live

we all must sleep.

And how we have beds for this

(unless we are without)

and entire rooms where we go

at the end of the day to collapse.

And I think how even the most

lively people are desolate

when they are alone

because they too must sleep

and sooner or later die.

We are always looking to acquire

more food for more great meals.

We have to have great meals.

Isn’t it enough to be a person buying

a carton of milk? A simple

package of butter and a loaf

of whole wheat bread?

Isn’t it enough to stand here

while the sweet middle-aged cashier

rings up the purchases?

I look outside,

but I can’t see much out there

because now it is dark except

for a single vermilion neon sign

floating above the gas station

like a miniature temple simply lit

against the night.

~Malena Mörling