The Saturday matinee is about to start 

On this no-longer-a-Holy-Day-of-Obligation feast-day of the Epiphany.

Outside the uptown theatre where the latest Paris movie is ready to roll,

The line-up for tickets is long, made up of stragglers without online tickets.

Huddled in our warm woolen coats and rainbow coloured scarves,                         We laugh and talk, as we move ahead, stamping our feet to keep warm. 

From our spot at the end of this parade of people, the line seems to curve oddly

As we near the doors of the recently restored Edwardian theatre building.

Like sheep, we proceed to follow the circular pathway of people a few more steps,                                   

Then, just before the ticket window, we see Him.

There, sitting on the concrete sidewalk, he doesn’t take up much space--

Less than a square metre of brown cardboard, all told, in area.

If you had a metre stick, say from that tricouleur flag waving beside the shiny new Billboard,

He wouldn’t reach the full height of those centimetric units, sitting all hunched over like that.

We watch as he pulls tight the remaining red and green bands of the worn HBC blanket 

Amidst a concert of the chords of La Marseillaise

Wafting through the air with the scent of café crème.

Wearing a worn khaki coat with four brass-buttoned patch pockets and 

Shaded by a sun-bleached summer hat, not a cozy Canadian toque,

The man in blonde whiskers and tattered jeans is

Fading into the speckled grey sidewalk.

If it weren’t for the outstretched hand holding a soiled metal cup, 

Clinking with the sound of quarters and toonies,

The sidewalk would appear to be empty except for the newly-fallen crystals of January Snow.

--Two adults, one teen, one senior for the Paris movie, please.

• Patricia A McGoldrick writes poems, essays, reviews about history, nature, books and people. This poem was published in The Changing Image 2008 with the winning entries in prose and poetry categories of the 2008 Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards Contest. City of Lights was ranked second in the Senior (over 18) category of the Poetry submissions. Patricia lives and writes in Kitchener, Ontario.  http://pmpoetwriter.blogspot.com, http://sites.google.com/site/pmpoetwriter

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