Yellow (Shyness, Richie Valens and Cold Play)

Soft yellow light backs
a horizon of gray clouds,
the last of a slight storm,
sodium white
fingering up
into the lightest
of blues,

all broken
by fine-limbed
trees smudged
green.

It's spring,
rock 'n' roll
over the Bose:
Richie Valens
sings, Well, come on,
let's go, let's go, little darlin'

Ah, and there I go
back to warm days
& the spread
of lawn across
the football field.

It wasn't the 50s,
it wasn't Richie,
it wasn't even spring,

but there she sat in the bleachers,
bright yellow overalls,
dark sun glasses,
blond hair feathered
back, blowing gently
in the lightest breeze,

days that stood tall
with potential
even under the squalid reality--

shyness an urban blight
(blinds pulled over
second story windows
to shut out fear
that thundered through
like a Chicago
elevated).

For one brief
moment--

the sun on
her cheek--

I forgot
who I was

and smiled back
broad as a billboard.