Yesterday at the Drug Emporium
while scanning the shelves
for my favorite lotion I encountered
a blind woman and her companion who,

to my profound irritation, scooped
the last two bottles of St. Ives
Creamy Vanilla from the shelf
and dropped them into their basket.

Maybe it’s a sign
of my complete self-absorption
or possibly exhaustion
that when the companion made a quick dash

to the toothpaste aisle I considered pilfering
one of the bottles (just one)
from the blind woman’s basket,
then tiptoeing away, silent as the grave.