The escalator ribbons up, the while
a young man keeps his place by walking down.
He practices his rap and makes us smile
who weren’t yet awake enough to frown.
But here’s a BART announcement in the air:
The disembodied voice of civil patter
that tells him not to play that way – not there –
asserting that it’s just a safety matter.

Hello! I think, why say aloud that lie?
He threatens not himself nor anyone.
There’s half a dozen cops about, so why
attempt to stop this man from having fun?
He’s marching nowhere, making pretty sounds,
and it’s authority that’s out of bounds.