2021 (c)
It is not that he is immovable.
He is responsible.
He is hired to guard
what others have gathered—
to consider whose labor,
whose wanting
made it so.
He dresses for the role—
not expression,
but recognition.
He knows accounts—
savings, bonds
what will be his
when the time comes.
He thinks of Paris—
wine, a young woman,
a weekend spent
But he does not go.
He is guarding.
He keeps the numbers strait,
the doors locked,
his hands clean.
