Charles Hansmann: NOON

.
Time again, each morning when we wake – and place too – us, then me, you – separate

sides for swinging out our legs, a day taking place (we say, though meaning

taking time) as approach succeeded by withdrawal, as if the highlight were

exactly that, our lives meridian-centric, a countdown

to a moment – the gunfight in the western street, the church

bell, the firehouse whistle – and then a count away from it.

lunchers
in the clock-tower shade
eyeing their wrists

by Charles Hansmann

Sea Cliff, New York

first published, in an earlier version, in Lynx XXII: 3, October 2007