good friday


slipping small feet down the hot hard sidewalk
of this small town, boom town, big city overnight
hub
past the cathedral
shining white
a billion coins' worth
of retrofitting
restoration resurrection
with a cluster of starving
hanging dirty heads outside
and gaggles of clean little doll
poor children in fancy dress
a woman gleams above by the bannister of expensive wood
she's holy today in her gold sequined tube top
cheap jeans
hand-me-down pale cream
spotless virgin blazer
and her worn sandals
with the big plastic jewels
and she is thin
and she is also hungry
like the fat children
like the beaten-down parents
like the homeless
and like me
just off work
for joy

by Sara, copyright 1999, all rights reserved