The Sign Says You Can Walk If You Want To

The sign says

You can walk

If you want to

But what does

A sign know

About walking

And the permission to walk?

What does the little
Neon man know

About your safety

And whether or not

A car is coming at you?

Does the sign know

If a bank robber

Is making their getaway

In a speeding car

Down the avenue

Not worrying

For one second

About red lights

Or green lights

And here you come

Feeling entitled

Feeling special

Because a sign

Told you

It was okay

To walk

I don’t know

I suppose you can trust

The sign

You probably trust

All sorts of things

You shouldn’t

Signs, warning labels

Maybe even people

If you’re a real dolt

How often do you

Move through life

Being given access

To things

That you either

Have no business

Having access to

Or that you could have

Had access to all along

And here you were

Waiting for a sign

To tell you

It was okay

Now, I don’t expect

You to be a renegade

And go walking

Egotistically down a crosswalk

With trucks and vehicles

Swerving to avoid you

Causing accidents

Wherever you go

We still live in a society

Don’t we?

We still have rules

We have to follow

But who tells us

What the rules are?

And do we trust

What those people

Are telling us?

And should we?

I don’t know

If I want to color

Within the lines

And if I don’t

Then what?

And if you use

Your own judgment

To tell you

When to walk

And when not to walk

What could the harm

In that be?

I suppose

If you had very poor judgment

Then you might be

In some trouble

I suppose

That even if you have good judgment

Somebody else might not

And we can’t leave it all to judgment

Because only a handful

Of people like that

Could cause the breakdown

Of modern civilization

But do you ever think

About any of this

As you’re standing

On a corner

Waiting for the light

To come on

And tell you

It’s time to cross the street?

And once you cross

Do you ever think

About crossing back?

And do the feathers

Make it difficult?

I’ve always thought

How difficult it must be

To have feathers

As you’re trying

To cross

A road