Komal Walimbe Poet Free verse

The man in Burgundy

I was travelling by train today.

I ran to catch it,
just before the doors closed on me again.

I let out a sigh of relief
when I finally reached my seat.

I really, desperately
didn't want to go to college today.
The frustration, the anger,
it seems to grow a little more every day.

I sat across from a man in burgundy.

The ticket checker made their rounds,
and I pulled out my laptop
to start working on some stupid presentation
for class.

Then a little girl walked in.

Her regular little pen box in her hands,
trying to sell pens to the people on the train.

And just then,
the man in burgundy
pulled out a crisp 500 note
and handed it to her.

I gasped.

She looked at the note,
then at him.

Her eyes lit up
in a way I don't think I've ever seen before.

He didn't take the pens.

He just smiled.

I looked back at my presentation.

Stared at it for a while.

The same slides.
The same deadlines.
The same college I was so angry about.

And then I closed my eyes,
and wondered

Maybe somewhere between
running for trains
and rushing through deadlines,
I have forgotten what really matters.

I opened my eyes.

The man in burgundy
quietly watched the window.

The girl had left.

The train kept moving.

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