Everyday Joe

 

She was speaking behind me

Casually to another party

And the more she spoke

The more distracted I became

Or- I really should state

The more I became focused

Not so much on her words

But on her voice, its inflections

It was soothing and yet

Seemingly heartbreaking all at once

I felt as if I was at an opera- blind

Listen to some foreigner language

But somehow understood natively

Like my soul- was telling my story

Of love- sought- found- only to lose it

Cold chills rushed through my body

And simultaneously heat ignited

Within the core of my essence

As if finally, someone seen- me

My eyes were filled with tears

It was an emotional symphony

being played aloud- in silence

Half sadden, the other half from joy

I felt understood, moved- touched

I had to turn around and look

See who this was, that was speaking- me

And when I did, she too had moved

Our elbows encountered briefly

She barefacedly stared towards me

It was there- in that moment

I froze briefly, mesmerized really

Like a deer in headlights, waiting

Waiting for the world to move

For the universe to speak to me

Or send death calling; run me over

It was her eyes- solidifying- time stoppage

There were simply microseconds

Yet seemed like slow minutes

I simply stuttered in my apology

And I recall she was doing the same

Both of us red-faced yet caught

In something welcomed, something

That neither of us could explain

We clumsily went our separate ways

In shock, wearing grins of happenstance

Stepping queerly, I looked back once

Just to see if she was looking at me

She wasn’t, but a few steps later

I felt this tremendous urge to look again

Similar to fight or flight- confused

But I was also afraid to be disappointed

It was so intense, tears arrested my eyes

So, with all my might, I resisted

I didn’t want to lose “that moment”

I needed to understand it, cherish it

Until later, when my fear became regret

Did I refuse to partake- in fate?

Has my sip at love, passed me by?

Every day, I’m hauntedly reminded

Of that moment, that rush of intensity

I re-question myself time after time

Sipping on coffee, better prepared

After my lesson of “seizing the moment”

As I sit here, on that same stool, waiting

Until I hear my soul- telling my story

Of love found and kept through…her inflections

 

Poet of the Light © 2018