Sunday morning
Through a
filth-laden
plate glass
window,
I saw
her standing.
Wearing her
Sunday best.
Her thick black
hands hung down
in front of her
meaty thighs,
each grasping
on to her purse strap.
Patiently waiting
for the bus.
Shining off
of her
ample face,
a sun which
suggested
faith's glowing
promise
in the afterlife.
A beautiful,
too perfect,
blue-skied
Sunday morning,
contrasted the
depressed ghetto
surroundings
and the stench
of the
laundromat
I was cleaning.
Suddenly,
a knife
plunged
in to the side
of her head,
just below her bonnet.
Her thick right hand
covered the wound,
as her left refused
to surrender her purse.
She screamed
and cursed at
her assailant
as he ran off,
empty handed.
Wailing uncontrollably,
her hysterics equaled
the brutal attack
she had endured
Blood continued
to run
down her face,
between her
fingers and
onto her dress.
Her purse was saved.
Her life spared from
the vicious attack.
To the assailant,
the contents of
her purse meant
more than her life.
The ambulance
came soon-after.
She lived.
I wasn't
the only
witness
that morning.
God was
watching too.
She lived.
And her after-life
didn't occur
on that
fate-filled
Sunday morning.
I finished my
bologna sandwich,
sipped my Pepsi...
and went back to
sweeping the floors.
by
Tim Labbe`
