While the train is stalled at Parkside Avenue,
a toddler clambers onto the row seating
his weary mother sinking onto the bench next to him.
He stands, two feet tall, and looks out the window
He says, Everything looks so different now.
I think he must mean since the snow all melted a few days ago,
but his words speak to my heart
to my own days at two feet tall, standing on the Q train seats
and peering out into the subway tracks.
Balancing on the ledges that line the sidewalks
my father’s outstretched hands waiting to catch me if I stumbled.
