October

October is upon us

With its many shades of gray

With its cold rains and snow flurries

Its short days and shut windows

Its promise of an ice age to come.

The subway shutters as it starts from the station.

I sit and shutter too

At my frailty, my slow breathing.

My youth is gone.

He’s laughing with a skinny girl on the platform at 96th Street.

I would love to see them dancing again

In the streets

As I did on my 22nd birthday

Celebrating Spring and Revolution and Saint Patrick

In the warm Wisconsin sunshine.

The police moved in.

It was violent and ugly

But in our dumb young way

We knew we would win

And we danced on.

These are different streets.

No one is dancing and the sun is very far away.

The beggars grow more desperate

As the chill crawls down Broadway.

Those of us with jackets, button up and hurry along.

It will rain soon

Or it is raining already.

October is upon us again

With its low-grade headaches and aching joints

With its famous revolution which ended up in the deep freeze.

Once I dreamed of a new day.

Now I dream of a stone fireplace against the chill.