I walked past you today


I walked past you today,
and as my eyes fell upon your standing form
I was taken aback by your beauty, unexpected
suddenness from my peripheral vision
how your clothing hugged your slender figure
hinted at more than it revealed
and I gazed upon your frame,
falling in love with your body
stepping closer, as strangers who pass each other are wont to do
feeling my pulse quicken
at my proximity
then I looked into your eyes…
and surely fell, my footing lost, tripping off the sidewalk
into incoming traffic, within that gaze
it was so innocent and wise
my very spirit leapt within
and I swore with all my soul I was in love

I walked past you today,
wanting just to speak but I
was invisible and unknown
each step past you I so tried
to halt my momentum
but it was set
like a mile-long freight, brakes gone
with each step possible futures boiled off me
like flares from the sun
futures in which I loved you, kissed you
married you, hated you, killed you, spoke
thousands of outcomes reeling
through my unresponding body
and with each step I closed the door on hundreds more
I blazed within a pyre of lost chance

I walked further, and you looked up
making my heart skip like a stone and then sink
but you only gave me the cursory glance
that strangers afford each other
As I watched those eyes fall back
to the person you were speaking to,
I was filled with one fiery question
searing my mind with its immediacy;
Did you think these thoughts as well,
and ignore them just as ably?
Could things have been?

I walked past you today with faltering steps
slipping back into the seeming safety of anonymity
left with the aftertaste of it all
I never knew you,
doubtless I will never see you again
but know that somehow I will always be yours
at least the part of me that will forget your face in an hour,
your eyes in two, your body somewhat later, and
eventually let this whole encounter fade.
I walked past you today, cursing my inability to act
and now that is all I have