The man in front of the grocery store 

2026-04-22

Aada Sokolnicki

Every morning he goes and sits in his place

While no one seems to meet his face

He sits along the pathwalk edge

So he would not cause an extra stretch 

All day he looks at people passing by

While they rise their eyes to greet the sky 

 

He looks at people in the store

In the cafe, when they are laughing more

He sees them share cups of coffee

Fresh pastries and sometimes toffee

He watches them buy ice cream cones 

While under his shirt he meets his bones

 

Some days still he hears

When they whisper their cheeks in tears

They worry about the wasting famine 

And blame the greed in humans built in 

They are anxious of the world state

The children dying just due “wrong faith”

But after all every sorrow

Will only persist in their world until tomorrow

 

There he sits in the dimming lights 

Outside their windows and out their minds 

And he wonders to himself; 

What you do not see

You do not have to feel 

And that is why

They do not look

Because only then 

They can think themselves as good 

 

 

Published 2026-04-22 in Dackekuriren Vol 1/26 Dacke Äter