Transcendent Meaning in a Flooded City

1 Swaying from right foot to left foot
2 we breeze around Washington Square,
3 trying to find a different high
4 from the groups of nappers
5 that puddle on the green
6 like vampires at high noon.
7
8 We circle the park for some 30 minutes, 
9 blowing past each puddle making it ripple 
10 and bubbling up conversation 
11 with a caterpillar-dreaded man that never breaks the third wall.
12 He introduces us to the men with a dog,
13 who help us leave with the object of desire 
14 and a treasure map to Checkpoint Charlie’s on Decatur.
15
16. . . 
17
18 Where the broad sun gives way to deep night,
19 a few blocks down from Washington Square,
20 halfway to Charlie’s on a dark corner,
21 a soothing horn plays.
22 The breeze makes me giggle
23 in the Marigny markets alive.
24
25 At these crossroads, the youth are alive!
26 Swift movement shakes an omen like the leaves
27 from an old tree that knows a true, timely breeze.
28 The longer we drift on, the younger they are,
29 sitting on every stoop thirsting for the most basic element of life.
30 I imagine they outlast the moon every night.
31
32 The youngest ones, out-front Charlie’s, sit on the street all night long,
33 feeling every Father-why-have-you-forsaken-me breeze.
34 I look to them to handout transcendent meaning,
35 and they look to me for bottled water.
36 Neither can pry it from the other’s cold fingers,
37 but it will not be forever we pay for these misgivings. 

4.2.17