“Glasses” by W.S. Merwin

There is no eye to catch

They come in uniforms
they cross bridges built on cement arches
they dip into lights
they wave

they have just read a book
they have never read a book
they have just turned from the TV
they have just turned from the table
or bed

it is morning and they pour
one by one out of the door
they are real glass and thin
and the wind is blowing
the sky is racing
they come to drink from the steel fountain
they come to walk on the carpet
they come past the doors
of frosted glass

they turn in the window at the end of the hall
in amber light
ninety floors from the ground
walking on empty evening
they pay the electric bills
they owe money
all the stars turn in vast courses around them
unnoticed
they vote

they buy their tickets
they applaud
they go into the elevator
thinking of money
with the quiet gleam of money

they bear arms
they go on wheels they are without color
they come in clothes out of closets
they fly above the earth reading papers
the bulldozers make way for them
they glitter under imported leaves