I used to watch the news and sometimes look
around me on the bus, the train, the street,
and wonder who was packing what it took
to harm. Who had a knife in a discreet
location? Were there hidden guns aboard?
The folks around were varied, and benign
I had assumed, but media assured
me peril was about without a sign.

I never saw the evidence, and now
my queries on my peers are shifted so
I wonder who is feeling sick, or how
they’re dealing with depression. I don’t know
how many suffer reflux, headaches, gas,
and who believes their misery will pass.