seen from a bus window

the bus screeches to a halt behind an elephant.
gentle warm sunshine, the elephant flaps it ears
seemingly unperturbed by all the smoke
being belched around it
by all the rather loud traffic.

she turns her attention (and her trunk)
to a man selling peanuts on the roadside.
the mahouts sitting atop lean down with a note
and the man with the peanuts reaches up with a packet.
the elephant, and its plaintive truck, are left out of the transaction.

the light changes.
the bus moves forward
overtaking the elephant
which looks really rather sad
despite its cheerful paint
at being denied the pleasures of a peanut.

but it's still good to see the elephants, and the mahouts back.
for the longest time they were denied entry onto city roads
and were stuck to the slums near the river, under the ITO bridge.

a city without the possibilities
of bumping into elephants on public thoroughfares
must be really rather boring.