Tangerine Breeze

Mr. Sun is gracious today, unabashed
and glowing through the lucid air,
bouncing off glass and rouging bricks,
like a flirt, prickling my skin a little.

Music, churning vaguely from somewhere,
or perhaps, it's just the city's own choir.
I couldn't say...it's probably both?

And the smell! the smell of muffins
with pieces of candied fruit in them,
wafting richly from a café oven nearby,
as batter turns golden in cups of white.

The buses cough out noxious puffs of grey,
but I see instead a parade of blue elephants,
with banners promoting movies, shampoo and cider.
Their mouths open when they stop,
to hurl out funny people, and beautiful people,
who dance blithe steps on the sidewalk.

Ah! I spot a friend amongst the chorus line!
I pull her over with a smile, then a kiss.
She is glad to eat muffins with me,
to sip coffee and philosophise aimlessly
for an hour or two under the sunshade.

At least she is...in my mind,
on this day saved as a keepsake,
retrieved and recoloured
to escape the lonely tropical rain.