Metallic Aftertaste

to the lady on the bus with two babies

fellow commuter, cashier bagging my apples,

if i have ever acted in a way that suggested immortality

look past it

i am no more worthy of this empty seat on the bus than you

we must do the hard thing and remember

we have never plunged the depths of each others sadness

and that any act done seemingly in bad faith

was more surely done without thought