She seats beside me.
Just a couple of feet away.
Eating her bagel and sipping
Absently from her large coke
While some crumbs lie around the table.
Her eyes pierce the page
Of the paperback book she reads.
Her shoulders so bent that her pony tail
Curves over the little bump
That rises between her shoulders.
she was talking to a partner from work.
With fearing pride she showed the glitter
Resting on her left hand:
Big, and golden, and shinny
With a small green stone in the middle.
Is that your engagement ring? Congratulations!
And something else I couldn’t hear
And nothing more. Warm words
So coldly said. Not friends, I figure.
Not very good ones, at least.
And I don’t know why I feel sad.
I don’t know why, she, eating
there with her engagement ring
her half full large coke
and her absent mind
make me pity her.
Who gave me the right to believe
my life is any better than hers?
Who made me think I’m closer
To happiness and blessedness
And the sun?
Saint Louis, Missouri
4 November 2009
