please stay alive i was thinking 
as i greeted the crossing guard 
still thinking about the artist who died 
on her bike who i didn't know before 
she died 
and she was only twenty-five.
one thing we can do i said to myself 
as i went in front of the cars passing 
without the crossing guard because i'm not a kid, 
we can use the crosswalks cautiously believing 
in them without assuming the auto pilots do, 
by seeing them first and causing them to see, 
crosswalks are not just for kids, and crosswalks exist 
without crossing guards and they exist for us 
to cross safely. so,
see, and be seen, and stay alive please.