Furiously scribbling in the late afternoon,
this young woman
who should be dancing,

who should be sitting somewhere
posing for a portrait

or learning to play the violin
off the Aegean Sea
a thousand years ago.

This young woman, who sits
in a coffee shop, furiously studying
and scribbling—

who pauses sometimes
and, raising her slender wrist,

brushes the hair from her eyes.