Today's Commute

I swipe my Metrocard and push through the clatter-rattle turnstile. The rumble of a train just leaving the station, but I can hear something else. An acoustic guitar and a lovely tenor are looping through the low arches, something quietly beautiful, not competing with the harsh surfaces, the cold air, but wrapping them, complimentary. I follow his music down the platform and he is playing a lullaby for the morning rush, a paean, a balm to the briefcase warriors and desk jockeys heading into Manhattan. The train pulls in and I slip a stream of coins into his open case. He smiles at me and says “Don’t let them get you.”