He pulled out his hands,
opened them up under
a sunlit sapphire sky
He made the Rotarians
watch the sand

rain between his fingers
until his palms were empty
once more

He kept his hands
empty and open
for several minutes
before the Polo-shirted ones

suddenly decimated
by charity—

2.

How does any story end?

Here, you can insist:

THE END

Or you can remember
charity and replay:

…the Polo-shirted ones

suddenly decimated
by charity—

then saved by the same
impetus:
a girl in a dirty dress
approaching them
with a scavenged
torn but still blooming

red rose