WALK
26 lines✦
ver the street the white clouds meet, and sheer away withouttouching. On the sidewalk boys are playing marbles. Glass marbles, with amberand blue hearts, roll together and part with a sweet clashing noise.The boys strike them with black and red striped agates. The glassmarbles spit crimson when they are hit, and slip into the guttersunder rushing brown water. I smell tulips and narcissus in the air,but there are no flowers anywhere, only white dust whipping up thestreet, and a girl with a gay spring hat and blowing skirts. The dustand the wind flirt at her ankles and her neat, high-heeled patentleather shoes. Tap, tap, the little heels pat the pavement, and thewind rustles among the flowers on her hat. A water-cart crawls slowly on the other side of the way. It is greenand gay with new paint, and rumbles contentedly sprinkling clearwater over the white dust. Clear zig-zagging water which smells oftulips and narcissus. The thickening branches make a pink "grisaille" against the blue sky. Whoop! The clouds go dashing at each other and sheer away just intime. Whoop! And a man's hat careers down the street in front of thewhite dust, leaps into the branches of a tree, veers away andtrundles ahead of the wind, jarring the sunlight into spokes ofrose-colour and green. A motor car cuts a swath through the bright air, sharp-beaked,irresistible, shouting to the wind to make way. A glare of dust andsunshine tosses together behind it, and settles down. The sky isquiet and high, and the morning is fair with fresh-washed air.
✦