The Old Man in the Diner

Sit down
The old man says
Look around
The old man says
Breathe a little bit
The old man says
Oh, wait, you can't

The burning smell of coffee
That has probably been on the burner
For weeks
Because the eighty-five year old waitress
It too busy filing down those blood red spears she calls nails

Is that a hair in my soup?
I wonder
Is that a wig in my soup?
I wonder
Is this even soup?
I wonder

Okay
So now look around
The old man says
What do you see?
The old man asks

So I look.

I see two truck drivers who look as if they have been up for the past 27 hours
I see a little girl in a pink sun dress
Who might look like the little girl
Who might die
In a car crash
Because the truckers were too tired.

I see three teenagers
Who think they rule the world
Who think they are really cool
For having the idea
To go to a diner
At 1:00 in the morning

I see florescent lights
That illuminate this tiny
World with in a World
In a harsh clarity
That I don't really want.

I see that one light flicks on and off
And I wonder
If it is some rule of the universe
That ever
tiny
dirty
hole in the wall
diner
must have a light that flicks on and off
on
off
on
off
on
off
on
off

So I turn back to the man and I say to him

Sir

I see ten people
Who have a life
That no one knows about
that they are living
Not quiet to the fullest

Very good
The old man says
What else?

Sir

I see ten people
who do not realize
That they
can
Change the World.