Captured in admiration
between the study of fear and the tranquility
of fascination, I watch a flash mob of minds
scurry in different directions to beat time to new destinations.
Scents of Magnolia cupcakes tiptoe through vanilla
halls where voices travel
in the walls decorated in architecture of a magical acoustic.
I am in the heart of New York City, midtown Manhattan
fifteen minutes from the arrival of the Metro North.
There are so many accents distracting my thoughts; so many different people
colliding in a collage of stories just beginning to turn
their pages. I am reading them, as they reading me
as just another stranger just an eye glance away from
being known. Tourists stand like soldiers in salute, cameras raised/
ready to fire away flashes of memories
as illustrations of romantic art stare down
upon the main concourse of shadows laced
with glimpses of sunlight. Around me are so many platforms of life
as people travel and admire
this structural attire. Smiles greet me as impatience shoves
me deeper in this crowd of obscurity.
This is where I can just be random – a strange face
forcing a smile just to feel a moment of acceptance,
because for now this is my space – in the middle
of Grand Central Station where fragrances of modern history
are being photographed and I, calm to the city, has
now become found in the travels of anonymity.
© 2011
Tarringo T. Vaughan
