Palatka

The fixture everyone knows;
Cool Breeze fidgets on the corner of 1st Avenue
and 13th Street. I haven't seen him around since this summer.
He's just back from New Orleans,
just in town to gather his things.
He's turning 50 years old this week.
I never thought of him as 50,
just slightly ageless but tired and worn.
Sometimes even tired eyes don't get torn.
Talk of time and West Virginia and easier
ways to just get by. From spare change to
spared and changed.
He's getting things in order to leave Wednesday.
he says "I'm glad to see you before I left.
Nobody won't ever see Cool Breeze here again..."