Look Both Ways

Walkers and wheelchairs
Canes and scooters
Walking aids of all sorts
There is no booklet 
That comes with each 
Reminding that traffic
Cars, buses and pickups
Are bigger and faster and stronger
Drivers responsible 
To watch for
Pedestrians on wheels
Responsible for watching both ways
These pedestrians on wheels bravely
Continue participating in life
While vehicles whiz by.

Today, I came to a stop
To allow them to cross the street
An elderly woman pushing an elderly man
In a wheelchair
Had hesitated to step out 
Watching for traffic
Pulling back suddenly
Just as a vehicle
Roared past me
Without warning
And noisily sped down the street.

“Who or what are you? Besides insufferably rude?”

~ Garth Nix, Lirael