I saw Donna
yesterday morning
before nine
when I was on my way
to Caffe Nero
and she was on her way
to the CVS near the high school
(the public high school
against which
I have no grudge
as the kids are better-mannered
than the Catholic-school kids).

This small tired woman
whose hair is long
and mostly black
with dartlets of grey
swimming about in the darkness,
this woman of sixty
who looks (I'd never
tell her this) sixty,
this dear heart, this
angel of compassion ---
she brightened my
already bright morning
palpably.