He found her in a cafe, drinking a cup of tea,
her breath filling the window with a fog of frost.
She had bags hanging just underneath her eyes.
She said, "I didn’t realise I was lost.”
He asked her, "What are you carrying?
With all those bags, it must be quite a lot."
She spoke to the glass instead of him
when she replied, “All the places that I'm not.”
They looked like crescent moons to him
but he couldn’t tell her of her fate.
“They look heavy,” was all he said.
“I’m not surprised anymore of weight.”
He wanted to tell her so many things
but she didn’t look at him for a while.
“It’s like being at the bottom of a lake,
now something feels slower when I smile.”
Not once did she show even the hint of a smile
so he decided to try and outdo her.
But it seemed like this was one he couldn't win
because his words just went right through her.
“You are a foreign land. I have a compass.”
“No magnets. My grandmother lives alone.”
“My sister has stopped playing piano.”
“I’m afraid to answer the telephone.”
Her eyeline had woven its way into his.
“I like the sounds it makes as it rings.”
He asked at length what she’d do with the bags.
“I will learn how not to break things.”