Day 439

He lay on the ground, everyone
fleeing, moving past him.
The street was unrecognizable,
the sound of footsteps, shouting,
children crying around him.
He lay there, half-conscious,
unable to move.  For a while
he imagined ordinary life:
say they were on their way
to a movie, a grocery, a café.
He drifted in and out, from 
the ruined street to things
he remembered, to a place
he’d never been, a green
quiet place where he walked,
met others who had also
disappeared,  The air
darkened, grew cold.  He found
himself making out words, then
moving a foot, a leg.  He stood.
Shook off the unnameable
places he’d been, looked out
at the world he had left
for a while, and then regained.
Joined the solemn parade
of those who were walking.