AFTER THE SIESTA - Molfetta, Puglia

After the siesta,
as is their habit,
they take their
late afternoon-
early evening stroll
along the sea-side promenade.

Couples of all ages;
young nuclear families,
some with prams;
older families with grandparents,
and perhaps aunts and uncles,
to demonstrate how the family tree
has spread its branches.

They stroll, many arm-in-arm,
greeting friends and nodding
to acquaintances
made on previous strolls and,
without any apparent rule-of-the-road,
flowing smoothly
against the counter-flow
of groups advancing
from the opposite direction.

Pairs of lovers smooch,
uninhibitedly,
on their raised love seats
atop the sea wall.
Embracing, kissing, caressing,
uncaring of the passers-by
on the crowded sidewalk.

As the evening twilight falls,
numbers increase for, by now,
the non-walkers
have brought out their cars,
with windows and roofs open
in the warm evening air,
to add the syncopated thud
of their car-music
to the sound of footfalls which,
with that of human conversation
and greetings,
rises to the balcony
from where I watch
the passing parade.