Sunday Plaza

The windows lighted
merchandise tantalizingly arrayed
stores stand empty of customers
like great ships
anchored in a bay;
gaping parking lot
large and grey
as placid water
and overhead seagulls wheel
cry harshly
then coast on stray winds
now and again
strutting the ocean of pavement
or landing on light standards
like drifting buoys --
scan the deserted sea;
conquerors
surveying the battlefield
assessing booty.