business as usual

Once Ramadan was over, the police
stopped blocking streets around the Stock Exchange;
as if they thought the mullahs would rearrange
their portfolios, invest in peace,
and let their contracts expire.  This new lease
on freedom went, at first, unnoticed.  The air,
late-winter warm, was quiet; the streets bare,
even at noon.  It takes time for fear to cease.

But with the Spring, the street vendors return.
As if called to prayer, their customers throng
the streets again, spending their lunch-breaks hoping
for a bargain, singing the market's song.

And traders who think they've kept options open
still play with straddles while the future burns.