am 6:12, Dawning

am 6:12, Dawning

by Sul EunJung

am 6:12, Dawning

am 5:20

in the cold dusk of daybreak
I leave home
guided by street lamps

am 5:30

getting on
a No. 103 bus

am 5:32

finding empty seats
full of silence
seated on
one of them

am 5:41

an old man with white hair
in white sneakers
slowly
steps inside
the old man white
who's lost retirement

am 5:55

a man in a dark jacket
surrenders himself to the curtailed sleep
with both legs stretched out
relaxing them in advance
before they get swollen with fatigue
all day long today

am 6:07

a stony-faced woman
carrying a quite large bag
watching her step
heads for the back door
what might be there
in that manly bag?

am 6:12

we pass through
a blue tunnel
feeling fear, tension
but
tunnels will end somewhere
and be bygone
just by passing by

am 6:15

a man in all dirty sneakers
closes his eyes gently
maybe on his way home
those shoes will be more worn-out
after another exhausting day

am 6:20

that man who were sitting upright
leans back
at last
it's not easy
for anybody
to resist a sweet morning sleep

am 6:23

...

am 6:27

a woman
in a hot pink sweater
gets off in haste
even in the whirl of busy early morning
she didn't forget
to put on pretty color lipstick

am 6:34

with shoulders strained
the man checks the route map
over and over again
in the first trip before light
where might he be bound?

am 6:40

a girl in a padded jumper
leans over all the way with face down
what if she had missed
the stop to get off?

am 6:42

that man
just awakened from a doze
did you dream of day dawning?

am 6:43

time to get off

am 6:50

like yesterday
may today be
and tomorrow too