A Pair of Imperfect Strangers

A Poem

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

we met on a night —
much like tonight —
when the shadows
played about the room
and allowed us to play
our parts to perfection

we laughed on cue —
or so it felt —
until the moment
when our fingertips met
against the cold glass
of another drink we didn’t need

but we smiled,
embarrassed,
withdrawing,
yet —
there was a spark
of something more

how we tried to ignore
the heat behind our eyes —
oh, it seems so long ago
when we were just
two strangers passing
in a quiet room

back then,
names were a courtesy
and not a surefire answer,
so we departed
without revealing the truth
of what beat inside our chests