William Carlos Williams - A Negro Woman

carrying a bunch of marigolds

        wrapped
                     in an old newspaper:
She carries them upright,
       bareheaded,
                     the bulk
of her thighs
       causing her to waddle
                     as she walks
looking into
       the store window which she passes
                    on her way.
What is she
       but an ambassador
                    from another world
a world of pretty marigolds
       of two shades
                    which she announces
not knowing what she does
        other
                   than walk the streets
holding the flowers upright
        as a torch

                   so early in the morning.