THE GLANCE

(in a time before dating apps)

 

This table of noisy eating –

strange faces, chance meetings.

 

That half-profile:

alabaster skin,

hair pulled back

behind an ear.

 

Two heads turn, simultaneous

in unknowing silence,

 

pupil-to-pupil

question the hunger

before cheeks redden,

then turn aside.

 

On the threshold of grace

an upturned corner of the mouth –

 

darshan, a signal

at the synapse.

Dark energy

so slight, so brief

 

it could last for decades,

would shatter your granite statue

 

should you let it.

 

xi. 2024