Noise of Life, Please!

Noise of Life, Please!

Down the next courtyard was a laundry

With washing machines droning night and day

The washing woman languid like a barrel

Cats and kids clinging the tower of Babel

One day weird it was deserted for no reason

For weeks Laundry uncollected in rain and sun

Fruits fallen and rotten on the ground

No human, even the cats were not around

Then this morning I hear the early din

Looking over I see fresh washings on line

The woman cooking and a baby wailing

And the cats jumping the roof and railing

Be there clatter of plate and spoon

Be there children prattling at noon

Be there even the roaring of traffic

Better than silence after the pandemic