I see my first stranger of the day, a silhouette
while I navigate the sidewalk in the 6 a.m. sunlight.
All shadowy figures shamble from a distance,
dog leashes mistaken for exposed entrails,
joggers as the last fleeing survivors
my disbelief suspended in a blood red horizon.
The second before the stranger and i pass each other
I think that if this turned out to be the ground zero bite
you'd be so proud of me,
I think that I'd try to be the first to find you.
