Sidewalk cafe

Today three men were sitting in front of the grocery store on Pitt Street, on metal folding chairs eating lunch,

sandwiches in plastic wrap and canned drinks,

today in this unusual warmth

before mosquitoes and gnats dance the air.

I think of a couple in Athens,

seeking the night air,

sitting at a wooden table

between the gas pumps of a filling station,

and the housewives on slender stairs

in the morning above the water

of the Bangkok canals,

and the beginning of ''Moby Dick''

with people walking to rivers, to sea

as here today people are

throwing open doors,

dragging chairs outside,

finding shelter in the cup of sky.