I heard him from across the street: “Heeeyyy, sweetheart”

I was clothed modestly

He was pushing a shopping cart

I’d seen him before he saw me 

I was pedaling on my bike 

It was a million degrees 

I envisioned those Valentine’s Day candies

The chalky-sweet hearts with messages on them 

Out of the corner of my eye I got another glimpse at him 

He repeated, more aggressively, “Hey, sweetheart”

It creeped me out so I pedaled hard

Past the convenience store with its big lottery sign

Past the high school football field and all its painted lines

Beyond the burning building and the sirens

Over the railroad tracks, through the busy intersection

For a moment I looked back

He wasn’t following

I spent part of my commute doing some introspection

I’m neither sweet nor a heart 

Somehow the last 15 years made me hard 

I don’t even eat those candies anymore

I wonder if they’re sold in the convenience store

15 years ago I would have stopped for that guy 

Was he even homeless or was it all a disguise?

I’m not exactly sure when I stopped smiling 

I think it was a process: years of striving and obituaries piling 

And though I can out pedal the sirens 

In my neighbor’s house a man lies dying

I throw my hands up more than I’d like to admit 

The bumper sticker said, “Never tell me the odds”

I’m not sure what it was alluding to 

But the truth is we’ve been all been robbed

Is there any sweetness left in anyone’s heart?

They’ve all been pierced by darts 

Not arrows from Cupid 

Even the sweetest have been ruined 

I pedal and pedal to get away from it 

But I can’t go far enough 

The terrain is rough 

I finally make it home on my bike 

Hope to have a restful night 

I’m waiting for an exodus 

Isn’t everyone?

That guy pushing the cart, the one who bets on the lottery ticket, the train conductor, my neighbor 

I’m holding out hope that it’s coming later

I’m putting all my chips on a Mediator 

We can’t out pedal the Pharaohs and Babylons 

Among all the sweet hearts something’s wrong 

For now I have a seat in my man-made front yard garden

Strangely enough, I see the man again – pushing the shopping cart 

Looks like he’s starvin’

At the same time, the funeral home’s car pulls up in front of my neighbor’s house 

After an hour, they bring a body bag out 

The man pushing the cart falls to the ground 

He yells, “My Daddy!”

He writhed and convulsed, talked to himself madly 

I carried over to him a cucumber and some raspberries

Plus a lone wildflower 

He said, “I just missed him by an hour!”

I walked back across the street to my garden 

That man followed

I felt so hollow

My Golden retriever licked him 

I found myself wishin – I could go back

The man ate some raspberries and pulled out of his pocket some candies

He opened his hand to me and there was a solitary Sweetheart that read SMILE

I took it and did. It had been a while

He started leavin’

I pointed to the Adirondack chair

Next to the sunflowers and junipers

He sat right there and said, “This looks like Eden”