Crowded Chivalry

There is but standing room only
the wheels on the bus spinning,
humming in time with our breath. In silence,
the riders arrange and rearrange
a perpetual game of musical chairs as a seat or two opens

In that moment, chivalry -once lost- is found
in the standing feet of young men
offering seats to old men, old women, and young women
with canes, babies, and baby bellies,

weary from long days had and not yet begun
when at no one in particular, the brakes hiss,
door slamming open for disembarking passengers
murmuring, "Excuse me, Pardon Me" to call out "Back Door!"

Leaving to make room for the new crop
of standing, seated souls
ready to arrive at this place and that
on Friday Night in Indy.