Routes to Belonging
On the Number 1, the doors sigh open,
and I step into a world stitched together
by bus seats and window glass.
A student with earbuds nods to the rhythm,
a grandmother clutches her grocery list,
two friends laugh in the shared language
of being late together.
The streets roll beneath us,
Mass Street brick, the curve past the river,
the stop where someone always waves.
Every route is a thread,
tying one neighborhood to the next,
a map not of distance,
but of connection.
Here, belonging is not a single place,
but the spaces we pass through,
the glances we exchange,
the stories we carry home in our pockets.
Each ride is a reminder:
we are travelers,
we are neighbors,
we are here together.