Paris

Metro station,
Midnight.
White tile walls.
Black metal rails.

The sheltered waiting:
Patient.
Quiet.
Tired.

A donkey's bray,
Loud and surreal:
"Hee-yorrr! Hey-orrr!
Hee-honk! Hee-honk!"

Jittering eyes,
Twisting brows.
Shaking heads.
Shrugs.

A rooster's crow,
Impossible:
"Rawka-rok! Rawka-rok!
Erka-erka-rawka-roo!"

Puck discovered,
George Foreman's twin,
Across the tracks,
Sitting alone.

A chicken clucks.
He snickers,
Privately,
But contagiously.

A horse's whinny.
A chorus of laughter.
We all applaud
Before the train sweeps us away.