Like Magic

Separated from the earth by cement

Separated from the sky by steel and concrete

The buses roar into the terminal

Where I wait.

A thin line of blue sky is visible

Between the roof and the road

I glimpse cars racing along the Allen 

And hear subway trains rattling into the station

If I was to take a deep breath

And from this I refrain instinctively

I would smell the exhaust that

Bellows out from all the machines

One green GO bus idly rumbles at rest in its bay

While another growls, toots its horn and exits

Over and over, even the sounds of cars and trains

Are drowned out by the noise of roaring bus engines

Then suddenly,

into this inhospitable, mechanical

Vehicular, hard, grey environment

Fly two small, brown sparrows

Landing, they hop along the concrete

Searching for crumbs, food dropped

Nutrition in the forgotten, the trampled

They twitter to each other

And I find myself smiling at them

And saying hello there

Then chuckling with delight at their

Animated, musical conversation 

These two little, feathered balls of life

Transform the space like magic

And I feel alive once more

Connected, not cut off, from life.

Just like magic!