A compliment, even

Surrounded
by night
&
the shine
of false bright
from the beam
of headlights
as I trod the sidewalk
back home,
I heard calls broken
from w/in
windows
to guise identity,
unless I paused
to peer inside,
but
on coming
&
on looking
received
no response,
as if an invisible barrier
stood between
my feet
&
their confusion

like it’s a requirement
to react
when they slow down
just
to yell
out of a window.