beauty between the smog

after the show tonight, i hopped on the bloor line east at yonge and between the long, normally painful wait between subways, i was treated to a singular gift: there was a girl on the subway platform staring out into the opposite wall, she had long, dark golden ringlets of hair with a baseball cap on and in her own little world, she was singing...

...and she was awesome.

an old man came up to her and mumbled something rather quietly and she in a friendly, but evidently louder voice replied: "i'm sorry, did you want me to stop singing?" the man replied sheepishly in the negative and she responded, "i'm sorry, but it's my birthday and i've had lots to drink and i just feel like singing" to which i responded from a few feet away: "well happy birthday!".

she thanked me and the man smiled, walking away... but not too far. he wanted to listen to her sing some more.

the subway finally arrived and we all piled on, and she continued to sing along with whatever song was in her head. i didn't recognise it or i might have sung along. regardless, when my stop came up, i smiled and said: "you have a lovely voice, happy birthday" and got off the train.

it's nice to know that amongst all this nasty tasting air and dirty streets, there's a little bit of beauty... even on the subway platform at night.