Waiting in the steady November rain

For a bus into town

To thumb through boxfuls

Of previously-loved Marvel comics

In the market’s

Secondhand bookstall

Umbrella safe and useless at home

Despite your mother’s advice

Patient rain, which

Given enough time

Will soak you to the bone

A dilemma:

Wait, getting wetter at the shelterless stop

Shifting from trench foot

To trench foot

Or run back home

For the forgotten brolly

Not to mention

Your mother’s smugness

And risk missing the bus?

 The butter side down inevitability

Of that risk wins

So you stand your ground

And you steam gently

On the back seat

Of the bus into town