Wiser Than I
how could i have missed you?
you sat on the same bench
in the same clothes
in the same park
for eternity.
but nowhere in the million years that i ran my errands:
walk my dog
walk my kids to school
walk myself to work
did i consciously perceive you.
you were hidden behind frost-glazen branches
of a tree i could have sworn did not exist.
your faded yellow paint-peel covered jacket
was justified by a bench bare in patches.
the first day you weren't there,
my eye caught the empty bench
and i realized something was wrong.
and i wracked the crevices of my brain for an answer
and only then did i remember you:
the stillness of your contemplating face
in need of creme and a razor.
i blushingly realized that all this time
i had been intruding on your property,
walking in your park.
i'm sorry... i did not mean to disturb.
but you never returned since that fateful day,
and i wonder if the park
the soil
Nature
absorbed you, grasped you to its bosom.
and i wish that i had seen you
while you were still there.
trust me, i would have walked over to say hello
and asked you what you were thinking
remembering
understanding.
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