Sitting silently in a park

It was a Tuesday night and the place was packed.  The center of attraction was a young man in a hat, strumming on a guitar and singing along. A crowd gathered around him, some tapping their feet, some swaying to the music.

A woman on her phone perched herself on the ledge of a fountain. She wore a long flared bohemian skirt and her high heels peeked through. She stopped for a moment to light a cigarette and resumed her conversion. A whiff of smoke blew in my direction. 

Another group of young men were seated on the steps around the fountain. They wore baggy, brightly dyed clothes and multicolored beads. One of them sported shoulder-length dreadlocks. The man on the guitar was strumming “Redemption Song”.

Surrounding the fountain was dotted clusters of trees. Under one of them, a couple sat, her head on his lap, smiling at one another. He leaned over to whisper something in his ear, and she giggled audibly, stretching out under the canopy. Notes of "Can't Buy Me Love" drifted in the air. Behind them a man walked his dog, or the dog walked him, it was hard to tell.

It was getting darker. The park was beginning to clear. The woman with the cigarette had migrated towards the music. By now the musician was playing, “Come on baby light my fire.”  The couple under the tree moved closer.

A few others sat under the branches but most people gathered within earshot of the music.  The guitar was strumming, “Feels like Home.”

Inspired by Harry Burnstein’s voice.