A Morning Walk

Around six, I walked the alleys of my neighborhood. The sunlight was still cold, so I walked with my hands in my pockets, and the smell of kimchi jjigae rising from behind a wall greeted my nose. On the way back from my loop, a single dandelion beaded with dew was bowing its head in the patch of grass at the end of the alley. That sight of it shining on and on, though no one was watching, somehow seemed likely to stay with me a long time. The morning passed quietly, as it always does, but within that quiet was enough warmth to carry me through today.