the Thai street sweeper

I met him on a rural university campus
of no great reputation

He was built like a water-buffalo
an older water-buffalo
in the Fall of his life's Spring...
lived in a bamboo village with a wife
and four off-spring
His eyes were mellow and content

His wife cooked me green chicken curry and
(while smoking his pot)
I told him about the U.S.A.
and, in good broken English,
he told me of the Buddha

He was one of a dozen street sweepers
who kept the university immaculate,
unchanging and asiatic,
for virtual pocket change

He had a zeal for his job,
especially the Buddha shrines:
and no no-good spiders lounged there
spinning webs and drinking wine

He was M.L.K.'s street sweeper,
seeking to "excel in" his "profession"
even if it was "only sweeping streets"

He was a great one like Dimaggio or Mozart
Hemingway or Ginsberg,
the paragon of street sweepers