Only Myself In A Crowded Street Poem by Jessica Kissner

Only myself walking down the crowded street,
Everyone around me like statues in a park.
Here’s a car waiting to turn,
There’s an old man feeding the birds.

I can picture what there doing,
But their only paused.
As though the video is stopped,
They just stand there waiting for it to play.

This strange new world where all time has stopped,
Why have I been brought to this odd dimension?
Only I can move back and forth,
Only I can reach out and feel their stone cold hands.

Many questions left unanswered,
And no one there to ask.
Desperately I search,
For any sign of life.

Then strangely I see,
A little insect fly.
As though in this despair,
There is something there besides myself.

I follow the butterfly,
As though it is my one last hope.
It lands on a head,
Of one of these statue-like beings.

And suddenly they start moving,
As though given life.
The little flying insect,
Skips from one to another.

Each and every one that the butterfly touches,
Starts moving in their step.
Each action that I pictured,
Becomes real before my eyes.

Then the little butterfly flies,
Back into the sky.
Never to be seen again,
Or so I thought that day.

Then after years gone by,
And I turned old and fragile.
Laying in my bed,
Looking up into the sky.

I saw the little butterfly,
Fly down to where I lay.
Landed by my ear,
And softly spoke to me.

“It is time for you to leave, ”
Said the little butterfly.
“I’ll bring you to a place,
That will give you life once more.”

Then the little butterfly,
Flew onto my forehead.
And flew off to another stone planet,
Leaving my body statue-like.