My friend asked you about that sleeveless top
With the zip in the corner, but I could not
Say anything. My desire to talk could not
Overcome my lack of things to say.

I could have been honest, I suppose, and told you
Of how my eyes had followed you since that
Very first sighting, and of how my memory of you
Stayed alive as the summer decayed; but that
Would have needed confidence I did not possess.

So I let my friend talk, and I heard your voice,
And I nodded, vaguely and silently, at something
You said, and I watched you walk away.

I do not regret where I am now, but
I regret where I was not then.

When we became almost friends, years later,
Did you remember the awkward, earlier me,
Or had you forgotten the awed looks I gave you?

I had not forgotten the you I first saw, dancing
Under dim lights and tilting back your head
So perfectly when you smiled. I had not forgotten
How I longed to talk to you, and know you, and
Be the reason for that oh so gentle smile.

By then, I had learned to talk to you, but
Still said nothing; a nothing made of sounds,
Of words, but nothing all the same.

Eventually, that elusive confidence appeared,
Just in time for our first and last embrace
Before life swept us apart on different currents;
So all I could say was “I’ll miss you.”

10/11/2010

Posted on 11/01/2010
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