I had never seen that sign before
Construction orange
regulation two-inch letters
sans serif
all caps

(Why not in comic sans?)

I saw it Saturday
walking to the neighborhood Walmart
on the street across from the high school.

CAUTION: PAY ATTENTION WHILE WALKING

A warning to the teenagers who went that way to school, a small but active side road.
but how could it warn them – eight feet high
not in the sightline
between their eyes and their screens
which I am sure is the problem the sign was meant to solve.
How long had it even been there –
I drive that road near daily and have never noticed it.
Only reason I saw it Saturday was
I was walking to Walmart
and forgot my earbuds
so was walking podcast-less
(can one even walk without a podcast?)

CAUTION: PAY ATTENTION WHILE WALKING

The sentiment is spot on
but maybe too wordy.
Mary Oliver would say so
Pay Attention.

Pay Attention
Be Astonished.
Are we
Even astonished at anything
anymore?
Are we jaded by technology,
by gadgets
by filters
so much that we are not longer astonished by science,
it is rather an expectation.
No longer astonished by science
but by sunsets
Always by sunsets
if we think to pay attention.
Mary tells us
there is no astonishment without attention.