I walk into the grocery store with no intention of buying anything;
The market provides refuge from the sticky heat outside
I suddenly fell free, renewed, refreshed
But why?
Maybe it's because of the homely environment it possesses
In it's sterile arms:
People of all ages casually talking
Children begging their parents for forbidden sweets
Happy workers providing knowledge
Providing a path to help us find our way
Anyway, it doesn't matter
My feet drop tiredly, rhythmically, one by one
Upon the cold and freshly-mopped floor
Toward my favorite aisle in the entire enormous market--
The section full of variety as vast as the sky:
The canned food aisle.
Here I find a teenager
Skimming the section, as if searching for a certain can
Her big blue eyes begin to eye a can of Campbell's soup
And I can't help but wonder what it's like
If I were in her world.
I remember a quote from a famous book
By Harper Lee
Well, not the exact quote, but it was something
The sagacious Atticus said
To a confused and tiny Scout
Not to assume anything about a person
Until you wear their skin
And walk around in it
So mentally I climb into the girl's boots
And walk around.
Her perspective, I notice, is a lot higher than mine
But what is she thinking?
That I am not sure
Maybe it's not about cans at all
Maybe it's about a boy she fancies
Maybe it's about a girl she hates
Maybe it's about a test tomorrow
Or do her thoughts go deeper,
Does her shallow, bewildered expression deceive me
Like an iceberg: seeming so small above water
But immense below it?
The girl walks away and I feel lonely.
I feel like I had just lost the chance of a lifetime.
But for now I care not
For now an older woman walks into the aisle.
Oh! How eerily she eyes me
Her grey eyes, piercing
Stopping my rhythmic pacing
Her look makes me despise the woman
Because she looks so sure
But I know she isn't
Because once I felt I had known everything:
I secured it all in a delicate glass
And analyzed it all over again
And it all slipped from my fingers
And fell to the ground
I tried to pick it up again
But it hurt me, cut through my flesh
Left hurtful scars
So then I was left with nothing
And was forced to build on from there.
The lady thinks she knows everything
Look at her eyes!
Does she hold the key to life?
Does she know where she's going in life?
Does she know what can she's looking for?
Oh! I have lost myself in my thoughts again
A silly statement always shatters my concentration
But I remember what I said
And now I know for sure
That there is no definite thing in life but two things
As a famous man
Named Benjamin Franklin said:
"Death and taxes." |
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