Útépítő Munkás

Poem

Útépítő Munkás
(Road Construction Worker)

Older man,
yellow-vested and
rooted, knees to the street,

beside an older man still,
uniformed,
no safety hats on,
supervising the other,

whose hand,
petting-placed,
on the conception
of asphalt, hot urban clay,
smoothing it
to the curb,

in the direction of sidewalkers
in the Hungarian rain,
morning October cold,
far enough away,
they sense no touch of
the street heat,

waiting for the signal
to turn to walking,
and he,
on all fours,
whose hand,
busy smoothing
liquid street,
knows
no signal ever
turns
from the working.