A Seller of Hats

An old man walks forward. He slightly drags his left leg, and inconvenience. His hair is gray and full, his gait strait and persistent. He walks with his head down concentrating on something far off, not aware of each step not aware of the heat that fights him all the way, the hand in the sky that pushes him back. Forward The old man was a salesman. 35 years selling hats 35 years selling hats at the same store on the same street to the same men, year after year selling hats. Sweat trickles down the sides of his face, no hat on his head. His hands are hooked, arthritic knots that have tied his hands 5 years now. He walks forward. He lived in an apartment for 35 years, same stoop and its 23 steps Up, Down for 35 years up to the third floor, to the door and the room behind the door. He lifts his head, raises his hooked hand to cover gray clouded eyes, and looks down the road, bows his head and walks. He once was a young man, many years ago. But somewhere he lost those years, days in hat brims, months in felt. The road curves before him, another bend and another stretch of road. His pants are loose, his shirt stained by salts. He walks and his sadness leaves faint footprints in the dust. He steps each step now with a quite revelry. He his Hannibal marching across the Alps, he is Boilvar crossing the pampas. The old man stops. He sits next to an irrigation ditch, he hears a river. He pulls up some dandelions and crushes them in his hands and puts them up to his nose. They are the scent of something not quite forgotten and yet not remembered. He lies down in the dirt next to the ditch and smiles. The sun sets and the night air bites into the lines of his skin/ The old man shivers under the light of the moon. He curls up and holds himself. The old man sleeps. Roses rise in the sky, the morning is warm. A farmer comes to his field and finds an old man curled up like the purple bud of violet. The farmer touches the old man, and from him a violent burst of wings, white doves rise into a blue sky. Written August 25th, 2001 © on Aug 24 2001 08:28 PM PST   0 • 12