The Long Way Home

I took the long way home tonight,

winding through the back streets, almost alone.

The breeze suggested it to me.

The crisp air agreed, curious.

South on 11^th, southwest on Maryland,

through the fringes of Capitol Hill.

The houses were quiet,

lights escaped here and there through the trees,

explosions of color and movement from televisions

echoed on dark walls,

danced on cars and tree leaves,

a silent dream

that leaves no mark.

Around Stanton Park, west on Constitution,

the park vacant let for a lone dog walker

and an unfortunate man in a Toyota

who had garnered the attention of several police cars.

But through the flashing lights they, too,

surely thought the night was lovely;

their manner was relaxed, they stood a little taller,

it seemed.

West on Constitution, onto Pennsylvania,

into the grandeur—neoclassical, gothic, modern,

Georgian, French Second Empire,

Federalist, Victorian—

buildings lit, security guards pacing,

slowly,

bored,

shifting their weight from foot to foot

wrestling perhaps with whether the boredom

or its end

would be worse.

On Pennsylvania, up towards 15^th, a group of

thin young men in elegant suits walks on the sidewalk,

laughing,

striding past the Willard Hotel,

pats on the back,

smiles large,

life seems easy for them tonight.

At 15^th and K they are repaving the road

and a stocky Hispanic man holds a “STOP/SLOW” sign.

He looks uncomfortable,

like he has more gravity than he should

and standing is hard.

I like this man, and I want to follow him home

to see his dinner table set,

children hugging him as he walks in,

the day exhaling from his lungs,

a smile escaping, hardscrabble,

a crucifix on the wall,

the carpet thin and the dinner simple.

West on K towards 16^th,

a Ferrari in front of me is struggling

to decide its direction—stop? go? south on 16^th? service lane?—

I see the long, thinning hair of the driver

and the light blue Hawaiian shirt of his passenger,

and maybe I do and maybe I don’t

cringe

just a little.

16^th Street, brings me home,

its buildings comfortable and quiet
and its pedestrians happy,

holding hands.

The city is a shy girl on the first day of school

trying to hide behind her dress,

smiling.