Next to the
window, she sat alone
At a table
for meant for two
Looking out
at the setting sun
As longer
the shadows grew
I did not
want to come across as rude
I sat down a
table away
Into her
reverie I did not intrude
Even a “Hello!”
I did not say
I ate
quietly from my plate
She silently
sipped her tea
Discreetly I
caught glimpses of her
Never caught
her looking at me
Pushing past
middle age, just like me
She was
bordering on the old
A gust of
wind, she pulled her shawl around
It was
getting a little cold
Her looks
spoke of a goddess in her youth
Her clothes
a little plain
It seemed
like her lips had smiled a lot
And her eyes
had seen some pain
The fading
gold of her tresses
Now grey,
around her face
The
blue-grey eyes, lost somewhere
Her
movements full of grace
The music
played softly in the diner
As we went
about our repast
The fading
sunlight was almost gone
A little
spell was cast
It seemed
without a word or a look
Our souls
had said “Hi there!”
Two words speaking
volumes to fill a book
And some
left over to spare
Shy and
nervous, I was trying hard,
Trying hard
not to stare
My nervous fingers
combed my balding pate
Like in
times when I had hair
We were both
silently mouthing words,
To the song
that was playing
The lyrics
were just perfect for
What the
heart was saying
Soon, she stood
up, gathered her bag
And was
about to walk by
I took a
deep breath, composed myself but
I guess, I
let out a sigh
I reckoned,
I would try and dare
Dare catch
one last sight
Before we
both became two ships,
Two ships
passing in the night
As I made
bold to look up at her
Soup
dribbled down my chin
I saw the
wrinkles around her eyes
And the
twinkle within
She flashed
the most beautiful smile
That I had
seen in quite a while
Said, “You
must have had great hair when young,”
And as I
gasped she went on, “Cat got your tongue?”
Copyright © Kannan Narayanamurthy 2019
All rights reserved
