Félicitation

Now why would he say that?

Been walking the streets all night
Ducked in here at first light
For an espress and a croissant
And a lean into the zinc bar to relieve
The nail working its way up into my left heel.

Congratulations for getting off the street?
Before the flics recognize me again and demand
Votre passeport! or a carte de sejour?
Before the African sweepers roust me from my bench
With their big twig brooms?

Congratulations for being selected
To dodge the draft in Europe?
Hitching or riding the Eurails
Posing as a Canadian or AWOL airman
Hiding in crash pads by night, in plain sight by day?

But no one was watching me.
Everyone’s eyes were on the TV
Where the eagle had landed, unfurled
Its flag and we had become the first nation
On earth to put a finger on the moon.

© 2014 Jim Ramsay, all rights reserved.