breather

I ran into the middle of February
Even tempered and light
Strode past premature rain
Breathed in a new scent of the city
Full of clean and nothingness
Full -- though not of promises.

And I sensed,
That we are equals
You and I.

Workers walked past
In hard hats and dazed with Monday
On their minds
In the absoluteness of the street quiet
And the air
I breathed one more time
And gave back
Exactly what I took from you.

That moment,
Invisible and loud
Sealed you in me.
After that I was alone,
A woman in her red scarf,
Hurtling to the underground.

**