I noticed that you were in a hurry.
Thin, grey jacket halfway on,
Chestnut hair tousled,
Eyes on the watch on your wrist.
I watched your pace quicken,
And your eyes shift back and forth
For an unoccupied taxi
Or even a public bus stop.
I couldn’t tell if you were
On your way to work or school
Because despite your laugh lines,
Your eyes were bright and youthful.
Maybe they were wide
because your time was running out,
Or maybe you just became
The richest man in the world.
But you realized something,
And stopped for a quick minute
To check inside the bag
Hanging on your shoulder.
“Shit,” you muttered,
From what I could tell at least,
And then you moved
To your pockets.
The frustration on your forehead
Smoothed itself out.
You pulled out a pair of glasses, and
A little blue box from the pouch of your coat.
You opened the box
For a quick moment,
And a wide grin slowly grew
Across your handsome face.
Your fears dissolved,
And peace took over
Where your panic
Left.
I wanted to give you advice
Or push you forward with
A Good luck or Go get ‘em,
Then something told me you didn’t need it.
Maybe it was the sparkle
In your open eyes,
Or the way your tight mouth
Turned into a million-dollar smile.
Maybe it was my intuition
That stopped me from moving,
Or even my Jonathan, whose soul
Only continued to live in my heart.
Either way,
I knew you were going to be okay
When your hurried pace
Transformed into a skip.
Sashay on, young man,
And good luck for the adventure
That will take you to more places
Than any plane ever could.
Prompt: Pretend you’re sitting in a park. Write an ode (poetry or prose) to a person that might pass your bench. Begin the ode with the line, “I noticed that you were in a hurry…”
