the skinny santa

pipes in hand, chain smoking / reacting
the girls
startle me
with moments of mercy
downtown calgary: paved, expensive, modern
a middle-aged man with a beard and no belly wanders the bridge
lonesome, lost
the girls stop, turn to me eyes wide
"oh the poor man! he looks like Jesus,
no,
a skinny Santa. he has no food, the poor man,
what happened to him?"
then he
turns the corner and they
return to their pipes and i'm left
stunned
silenced by youthful
sympathy