Imagining
A downtown core
And city lights
Cabs stacked up
End to end
Filled with fares
Or seeking them
Crowded shops
Pedestrians
Littered streets
Swept clean by morn’
So full of life
Activity
This crowded block
Where could it be
Is this New York
Or is it Tokyo
London Town
Or ‘gay Paris’
At the core
They’re all the same
Though expressed
Quite differently
To understand
I keep in mind
The wash beneath
The detailed lines
From it context
From it texture
While lines divide
Draw us apart
Open my eyes
Take it all in
Old Delhi streets
Humanity
Find the beauty
Of each of us
In the details
Of our differences
Chandni Chowk Bazaar
Old Delhi
New Delhi, India
Taken during travels, 2017
Does it seem ironic that when I’m most conscious of this oneness that it becomes easiest to see — and celebrate — the staggering beauty in all the distinct ways we express our being, our humanity?