Roadside Shoes

By Andrew R. Duckworth

On the side of McCart Avenue
Was a pair of shoes on the sidewalk.
I don’t know what made me notice.
Perhaps it was the gold sides,
With white laces, all good condition.
But most notably, abandoned.
They were unlaced, standing up.
A voice seemed to call from them
Over the voices on the radio,
Got my eyes to fix on them.
On an otherwise lonely sidewalk
Sat the abandoned pair of shoes.

And I wonder who walked in them.
Would I have noticed that person?