In the distance, a newborn is wailing (a strand of hair is wrapped around his toe)
A sparrow rises to the branches bearing beams for her babies’ nest
A woman at a coffee cart on the sidewalk below tells the barista —
She’ll pay for the coffee of the father behind her with two young children
Music drifts down from a nearby window —
A child practices the piano in an apartment above — they will be someone someday,
(even though that note was supposed to be an a-sharp, not a b)
Across the street, a tabby cat stretches, fulfilled, in a sunbeam on the windowsill
An elderly man sits at the wheel of his car pondering what he will do when he arrives home
He misses his grandchildren; it's been months apart —
Miles away (but close to heart), they sit at their kitchen table after school awaiting his call
A librarian down the street introduces a young girl to Maya Angelou
And Grace Paley — and the world expands before her eyes