Empty Hours

in Cherry Park (San Juan de Miraflores)

A young woman walks in Cherry Park

(often walks in Cherry Park)

Across the street from my house

Read quietly—

Through the silence of her motions

She reminds me of a lost bird:

A migration of the wild

In a dark corner;

Birds, dogs, people fluttering

All around her, she’s a bird

With her wings clipped!...

She breaths slowly, but heavily.

There is large loneliness in her

Perhaps to settle something,

Something that needs delicate repair

Could it be despair—?

The park is nearly empty today:

As if she’s in an empty house.

#3311 (3-24-2012)

Lima, Peru